
Class, J ] A 4 ?7d 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



A 

GEOGRAPHY of CORNWALL. 



A 



GEOGBAPHY 



OF 



COENWALL. 



Historical, Ecclesiastical, Civil, Natural, and Parochial, 



BY 






THE REV. JOHN J. DANIELL, 

MASTER OT 1 PROBUS SCHOOL, AND CURATE OF PROBUS. 




LONDON: 

LONGMAN AND CO., PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
TRURO: JAMES R. NETHERTON. 

1854. 




■J/) 



Truro: 

Printed by James R. jNethehtox, 

Lemon Street. 



PREFACE 



FF1HE Geography of Cornwall has been com- 
piled in the hope of supplying to the children 
of Cornwall some knowledge of the history and 
character of their own county. 

The elements of the book hare been drawn 
from all available sources of information : by the 
kind permission of the Rev. J. Wallis, Vicar of 
Bodmin, a free use has been made cf the Cornwall 
Register. 

The writer begs to disclaim all idea of being 
considered to have composed a History of Cornwall : 
his only merit, if any, is that of having arranged for 
use the materials which came into his hands. He 
is compelled to express his convictions that many 
statements in the book are inaccurately made ; and, 
from the nature of the subject, it is almost impos- 
sible that such should not be, the difficulty of 



tl PREFACE, 

collecting facts in correct detail being extremely 
great. He trusts, however, that all who take interest 
in the Geography of Cornwall, will kindly convey 
to him the means of correcting any error they may 
detect : and, further, he asks as a favour the com- 
munication, from any quarter, of facts of interest, 
in reference either to the general or local history of 
the county. 

J. J. D, 

Probus School, 

February, 1854. 



CONTENTS 



I.— HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY. 

jfag'e,- 

1. Cornwall 3 

2. Cornwall and the Britons ... 3 

3. Cornwall and the Phoenicians 5 

4. Cornwall and the Greeks » 6 

5. Cornwall and the Romans ... - 7 

6. Cornwall and the Armoricans ... 9 

7. Cornwall and the Saxons 9 

8. Cornwall and the Danes ... 12 

9. Cornwall after the Conquest ' - - - 13 

10. Cornwall under the Tudor s - - - 15 

11. Cornwall from 1602 to 1702 20 

12. Cornwall from 1702 to 3820 ... u 

II.— ECCLESIASTICAL GEOGRAPHY. 

Cornwall and the Church - 39 

III .—CIVIL GEOGRAPHY. 

1. Survey of Cornwall 51 

2. Divisions of Cornwall - - - 57 

3. Trade of Cornwall ... 5s 

4. Agriculture of Cornwall ... 59 

5. Dukedom of Cornwall - - - - Gl 

6. Nobility of Cornwall . . , 63 
?. Language of Cornwall 64 

IV.— NATURAL GEOGRAPHY. 

1. Climate of Cornwall 71 

2. Surface of Cornwall - 72 

3. Geology of Cornwall 73 
■£. Minerals of Cornwall - 76 



VIII CONTEXTS. 

NATTRAL GEOGRAPHY, (Continued.) 

6. Pavers of Cornwall - - - 81 
(5. Lakes of Cornwall - 84 

7. Hills of Cornwall .... 85 

8. Plants of Cornwall - - - - 87 

9. Animals of Cornwall - - 88 

V.-PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY. 

1 . Hundred of East ----- 95 

% Hundred of West - - - - 117 

3. Hundred of Stratton - - - - 131 

4. Hundred of Trigg - - - - 138 

5. Hundred of Lesnewth - 147 
(j. Hundred of Powder - - - - 155 

7. Hundred of Pydar - - - 177 

8. Hundred of Kirrier - - - - 187 

9. Hundred of Penwith .... 203 



INDEX. 



Advent - 155 

Agnes, St. 186 

Agnes, St., (Stilly) - - 223 

Agriculture of Cornwall - 59 

Allen, St. - - - - 166 

Alternon - 150 

Animals of Cornwall 88 

Anthony, St., in Meneage 199 

Anthony, St., in Roseland - 176 

Antony East 111 

Arms of Cornwall - - 57 

Arthur, Prince - - 10 

Arundel's Rebellion - 17 

Austle, St. 162 



Bays and Headlands 7-55 

Blazey, St. - - - 361 

Blisland - - - - 140 

Boconnoc - - - 128 

Bodmin - 141 

Boscastle - - - 152 

Botesfleming - - - 116 

Boyton, part of - - 132 

Breage - - - - 196 

Breock, St. - - - 1?7 

Breward, St. 140 

Bridgerule, West - - 131 

Broadoak - - - - ISO 

Bryher - 222 

Budeaux, St., part of - - 109 
Budock .... 190 

Burian - - - - 218 



Callingtou - 106 

Calsto'ck - - - 107 

Camborne - 204 

Camelford - - - 154 

Cardinham - - - 117 

Carew, Richard - - 111 



Cam Brea 

Cheesewring, The - 

Cleer, St. - - 

Clements, St. - 

Clether, St. ... 

Climate of Cornwall 

Colan - 

Columb, St., Major - 

Columb, St., Minor - 

Constantine - 

Cornelly - 

Cornwall, Etymology of . 

and the Britons 

Phoenicians 

Greeks 

Romans 

- Armoricans 



— Saxons 
- Danes 



Cotehele 

Crantock 

Creed 

Crowan 

Cubert 

Cuby 

Cury 



- after the Cono^est 

- under the Tudors - 
-from 1602 to 1702 
1702 to 1820 

» and the Church - 



Davidstow - 
Deaneries of Cornwall 
Dennis, St. 
Divisions of Cornwall 
Dominick, St. 
Dukedom of Cornwall 
Duloe - 



page 

204 
97 
120 
166 
149 
71 
184 
182 
183 
192 

17a 

3 
3 
5 
6 

7 



12 
13 

15 
20 
34 
39 

107 
185 
173 
205 
185 
173 
197 



- 151 

45 

- 165 

57 

- 104 

61 

- 123 



Index. 



page 



Earth, St. - 


- 20/ 


Jacobstow 


- 138 


East, Hundred of - 


95 


James, St., Tregoney 


173 


Egloshayle 


- 146 


Johns, St. - 


- Ill 


E°;loskerry 


103 


Juliot, St. 


148 


Endellion ... 


- 144 


Just, St., in Penwith - 


- 217 


Enoder, St. 


184 


Just, St., in Roseland 


- 175 


Ernie, St. - 


- 166 






Ernev, St. 


115 






Ervan, St. - 


- 178 






Eval, St. - 


- 178 


Kea - 


- 170 


Ewe, St. 


- 163 


Kenwyn - 


- 170 






Keverne, St. 


- 199 






Kew, St. 


144 






Keyne, St. 


- 122 


Falmouth - 


- 188 


Kilkhampton - 


134 


Feock - 


- 171 


Kirrier, Hundred of - 


- 187 


Flammock's Rebellion 


- 15 






Forrabury 


152 






Fowey - 


- 159 










Ladock 


- 166 






Lakes of Cornwall - 


84 






Lamorran ... 


- 171 


Gennys, St, 


- 147 


Landewednack 


202 


Geology of Cornwall 


74 


Landrake - 


- 115 


Germans, St. 


- 113 


Land's End, The 


220 


Germoe - 


196 


Landulph - 


- 116 


Gerrans - - 


- 176 


Laneast, part of 


103 


Gluvias - 


191 


Language of Cornwall 


- 64 


Gorran - 


- 164 


Lanhydrock 


180 


Grade ... 


201 


Lanivet - 


- 181 


Grenville, Sir Beville - 


- 26 


Lanlivery 


- 157 


Gulval - 


216 


Lanreath - 


- 127 


Gimwalloe - 


- 197 


Lansalloes 


126 


Gwennap 
Gwinear - 


193 


Lanteglos by Camelford 


- 154 


- 205 


Lanteglos by Fowey 


- 127 


Gwitbian 


205 


Launceston 


- 100 






Laun cells 


134 






Lawhitton - 


- 99 






Lelant 


210 






Lesnewth ... 


- 151 


Hayle 


- 206 


Lesnewth, Hundred of 


147 


Helen's, St. (Scilly) 


223 


Levan, St. - 


- 219 


Hell and 


- 141 


Lewanick 


98 


Helston 


194 


Lezant - 


- 99 


Hilary, St. - 


- 207 


Linkinhorne 


96 


Hills 'of Cornwall - 


85 


Liskeard - 


- 121 






Little Petherick 


- 178 






Lizard, The 


- 202 






Looe, East 


124 


Illogan - - 


- 204 


Looe, West 


- 125 


Issev, St. 


178 


Lostwithiel 


156 


lve,'St. 


- 106 


Ludgvan ... 


- 213 


Ives, St. - 


211 


Luxulian 


101 



Mabe - 
Mabyn, St. 

Madron -/""•" 
Maker, part < » 
Manaccan °* 
IVIarliamchu: , 
Martins, St r ^ x " 
Martins, St , by £ooe 
Martins, S-> ^ Meneage 

Mary's, St MSoJW - 

Mary's, S' ■, (Salty - ■ 

Mawes, S S Iruro - 

Mawgan . • , , " 

Mawga» lu Meneage - 

Mawna: - m ty dar " " 

Melliorj a - 

Menhev\ bt - " 

Merry rt^, 

Merth *> st - " 

Meva^r 

Mew /^ lss ey - 

Miti p n > St - 

Mic F ae *> St., C arna y es 

Mic f iae *> St., Penkivel 

^jj r 71iaelstow - 

^j./erals of Cornwall 

^j /nster - 

^jiuiver, St. 

y.lorvah - 

ilorval - 

: Alorwinstow - 

Mount, St. Michael's - 

Mullion - 

Mylor 



Neot, St. - 

Newquay 

Newlyn 

Nobility of Cornwall 

Northill 

jNortli Tamerton 



Otterham 



Padstow 

Paul 

Pelynt 

Pendennis Castle 

Penryn 

Penwith, Hundred of 



page 

192 
144 
214 
108 
198 
137 
124 
198 
222 
221 
167 
175 
197 
184 
192 
105 
105 
179 
171 
163 
163 
165 
171 
155 
76 
151 
145 
214 
123 
135 
207 
200 
191 



117 
183 
184 
63 
98 
133 



148 



179 
216 
126 
190 
191 
203 



Penzance 

Perranarworthal 

Perranuthnoe 

Perranzauuloe 

Phillack 

Philleigh - 

Pillaton 

Pinnock, St. 

Plants of Cornwall 

Poughill 

Poundstock 

Powder, Hundred of 

Probus 

Pydar, Hundred of 



Quethiock 



Rarne 
Redruth - 
Restorniel Castle 
Rivers of Cornwall 
Roche 

Ruanlaniborne 
Euan Major 
Euan Minor - 



page 

214 
193 
209 
185 
206 
174 
104 
122 
87 
135 
147 
155 
172 
177 



105 



109 
203 
157 
81 
161 
174 
201 
201 



Saltash - - - - 112 

Sampsons, St. - - 158 

Samson's Isle, (Scilly) - 223 

San creed - - - 217 

Stilly Islands, The - - 22 L 

Sennen - - - 220 

Sheviock - - - - 113 

Sithney 195 

Southill - - - - 106 

Southpetherwin - - 100 

Stephens, St., in Brannel - 165 

Stephens, St., by Launceston 102 

Stephens, St., by Saltash - 112 

Stokeclimsland - - 96 

Stratton - - - - 136 

Stratton, Hundred of - 131 

Stythians - - 193 

Surface of Cornwall - 72 

Survey of Cornwall - 51 



Talland 
Teath, St. 
Temple 

Thomas, St. - 
Tintagel 
. Towednack 
Trade of Cornwall 
Trelawny, Sir J. 
Tremaine - 
Treneglos 
Tresco 
Tresmere 
Trevalga 
Trewen 

Trigg, Hundred of 
Truro 

Tudy, St. - 
Tjwardreath - 



page 

124 
138 
141 
102 
153 
213 
58 
48 
104 
149 
222 
103 
153 
100 
138 
167 
144 
158 



Yeep, St. 
Yeryan 



Wadebridge 

Warbstow 

Warleggan 

Week St. Mary 

"Wendron 

Wenn, St. 

West, Hundred of 

Whitstone 

Winnow, St. 

Withiel - 



Zennor 



128 

174 



©art I. 



HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF CORNWALL. 

L CORNWALL. 

II. CORNWALL AND THE BRITONS. 

III. CORNWALL AND THE PHOENICIANS, 

IV. CORNWALL AND THE GREEKS. 

V. CORNWALL AND THE ROMANS. 

VI. CORNWALL AND THE ARMORICAN3. 

VII. CORNWALL AND THE SAXONS. 

VIII. CORNWALL AND THE DANES. 

IX. CORNWALL AFTER THE CONQUEST. 

X. CORNWALL UNDER THE TUDORS. 

XI. CORNWALL FROM 1602 TO 1702. 

XII. CORNWALL FROM 1702 TO 1802. 



$ar1 I. 
HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF CORNWALL, 

I.— CORNWALL. 



The word Cornwall is of most uncertain origin. It may 
be derived from the British " Kern" a horn, and " Wealon," 
the name which the Saxons gave to the Britons, — or from the 
Latin Cornu-Gallia, because the county projects like a horn 
against the coasts of France. An old legend says that Corin- 
seus, cousin of King Brute, wrestled with the giant Gogma* 
gog on the Hoe at Plymouth, and threw him over the cliff 
into the sea, and for a reward received the country to which 
he gave his name. The ancient inhabitants were called 
Kernyw. 

"When the Romans came into Britain, Cornwall was 
inhabited by the Danmonii, whose territory extended into 
Devon and Somerset, and was called Danmonium. The 
later Romans called the people Cornabii, and Cornubii, and 
the country Cornubia. 

The old Saxon writers called Cornwall West Wales. 



II.— CORNWALL AND THE BRITONS. 



As the island of Great Britain was probably at one time 
connected with the continent, its early inhabitants must have 
a2 



4 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

been of the same family as the natives of Gaul. When 
Caesar invaded Britain, they were Celtic in their customs 
and superstitions, and had Druids for the ministers of 
their religion. 

The Circles, Tolmens, Cromlechs, and Logans, with 
which Cornwall abounds, were probably constructed by the 
Druids ; and seem to prove that the chief seat of their 
worship was fixed in this part of the island ; for in no 
other county, with the exception of Wiltshire, (in which lie 
the two remarkable temples of Stonehenge and Abury,) are. 
any similar remains to be found. The Druids had no covered 
temples : they adored on the heights of mountains, under the 
open vault of heaven, and in groves : they offered sacrifices 
of beasts, and on great occasions, of men ; and greatly 
reverenced the misletoe and oak. They professed to reveal 
future events ; and by their learning, science, and the use of 
magical arts, exercised a sovereign control over the bodies 
and minds of men. The Hurlers, Cheesewring, (if this be 
not of natural formation,) Trethevy Stone, and all raised 
masses of rude unsculptured rock, are probably the erection 
of the Celtic race. Rock-basons, or holes scooped out in 
the solid rock, of various sizes, from five feet in diameter to 
one foot and less, are common on many of the tors in the 
county ; and are supposed by some to have been made by the 
Druids for receiving the blood of the victims, or for catching 
the pure water of heaven for lustrations ; but there is no 
doubt that they are the secret work of nature, carried on 
silently through thousands of years ; they are formed by 
water long standing on the same spot and decomposing the 
stone. Some are circular ; others oval ; others of no regular 
form, with lips and without. It was superstitiously said that 
the water contained in them ebbed and flowed with the tides. 
All history of Britain before the Roman conquest is full 
©f fable. It is recorded that Corinaeus, who slew Gogmagog, 
was succeeded by his son Madan, and he by Duke Henuinus, 
who married Gonerille, one of the daughters of King Lear; 



OP CORNWALL. i> 

but Henuinus conspiring to dethrone his father-in-law, Cor- 
delia, the youngest daughter of Lear, whom he had disin- 
herited, brought an army from Gaul to her father's support, 
and defeated the usurper. 

Belinus, brother of Brennus the Gaul, a terror of the 
Romans, was King of Cornwall, Wales, and Lcegria. 

Iron rings, dug up in different spots, were probahlj 
British money. 

There was a great public road running through Danmo- 
nium, called by the Saxons The Foss-Way, which is thought 
to have been made before the Roman invasion. 

It is impossible to say whether the early Britons worked 
the mines before the Phoenicians came. Pliny relates that 
they fetched tin in wicker-boats, stitched about with leather, 
which are the coracles still used in Wales. Their princes 
wore collars and bracelets of gold, which they had obtained 
from the Phoenicians in exchange for tin. 

There are remains of British Church Architecture in 
the old church at Perranzabuloe, in the chapel on the island 
at Tintagel, and in some small chapels on the Cornish north 
coast. 



III.— CORNWALL AND THE PHCENICIANS. 



A colony of Phoenicians from Tyre settled on the north- 
ern shores of Africa, and founded Carthage. Many years 
afterwards a body of Carthaginians sailed through the Straits, 
and built the town of Gades or Cadiz, on the southern coast 
of Spain. Thence pushing northwards these brave sailors 
explored the coasts of Portugal, France, and Britain ; and in 
this last country found abundance of that rare and valuable 
commodity, tin ; which, in small quantities, they had before 
discovered in Spain. They called the country Bratanac, or 
the land of tin ; and from its coasts and islands carried on 



6 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

an immense traffic in metals and skins for ages before the 
Christian era, returning through the Straits to Narbonne, the 
great seat of their commerce. It is likely the Phoenicians 
made permanent settlements in Cornwall, and that from them 
many of the inhabitants of the western part of the county 
are descended. The course of their voyages, and the position 
of the Tin Islands, were jealously kept secret from other 
nations ; and when watched and closely followed by Greek 
and Roman vessels, the Phoenician traders would rather run 
their vessels ashore than risk a discovery by pursuing their 
course. Herodotus, when at Tyre, heard of the Tin Islands, 
but vainly endeavoured to get from the merchants any ac- 
count of the sea in which they lay. 

Hamilcar, a Carthaginian, made a voyage along these 
shores, and relates that his vessel was much impeded by fields 
of sea-weed. 

Tin was the chief article used in fixing the colour of 
the famous purple dye of Tyre. 



IV.— CORKVYALL AND THE GREEKS. 



About 200 years before Christ, a party of Greeks, who 
had emigrated from Phocis, and founded the town of Mar- 
seilles in the south of Gaul, stimulated by the success of the 
Phoenicians, sent out an expedition into the Atlantic ; and 
under one of their captains, Pythias, made the long- desired 
discovery of the land of tin, and eagerly pursued the lucra- 
tive traffic. They called Cornwall and its islands the 
Cassiterides (K.dO'a'LTE^Og, tin) ; and a map of the south- 
ern coast of Britain, drawn by one of their geographers, is 
still extant, on which the headlands of Cornwall and Devon 
are easily identified. 



OF CORNWALL. 7 

The Greeks also in their turn endeavoured to conceal 
from the Romans the knowledge of the British Isles ; and a 
party of their sailors, when questioned by Scipio, pretended 
entire ignorance of their situation or extent. 

The tin was exported from an island called Ictis, being 
brought thither in waggons at ebb tide. Some suppose Ictis 
to have been a port in Seilly, or Lyoness, now submerged : 
others the Black Rock at the mouth of Falmouth harbour : 
others St. Michael's Mount: others St. Nicholas', or Drake's 
Island, in Plymouth Sound : and others Vectis, or the Isle 
of Wight. 

Some few Greek or Phoenician coins have been found in 
Cornwall. Polybius, the Greek historian, expressed an inten- 
tion of writing upon the Cassiterides, or CEstrymnian Isles, 
and the manner of preparing tin. 



V.— CORNWALL AND THE ROMANS. 



About the close of the first Punic war, Publius Lucius 
Crassus arrived in Britain, and ascertained that hence tin was 
brought ; and eventually, on the destruction of Carthage and 
the decay of the Greek States, the Romans monopolized the 
trade with Britain, and became well acquainted with its shores, 
long before the days of Caesar. Diodorus speaks highly of 
the hospitable and courteous character of the Britons of 
Bolerium (Lyoness, Seilly, or perhaps Penwith), and de- 
scribes the washing and melting of tin, " which," he says, 
"they cast into ingots in the shape of cubes or dice, and 
carry to the island Ictis, whence it is conveyed by merchants 
to Gaul, and thence carried overland on horses, in about 30 
days, to Marseilles, at the mouth of the Rhone." 

About 54 B. c. Julius Caesar invaded Britain, to punish 



8 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHT 

the Britons for assisting the Veneti (people of Brittany) 
against him ; he conquered only the eastern parts of the 
island. Claudius visited Britain in a. d. 43; his generals 
reduced to a Roman province the middle and southern parts, 
and Agricola, under Vespasian and Titus, the northern. 
Cornwall was included in the division Britannia Prima ; and, 
it seems, was allowed to retain its liberties and native rulers 
so long as it remained in quiet and paid the yearly tribute. 

The Romans must themselves have worked the mines, 
as many Roman coins have been found in the old tin works 
of Wendron, Illogan, and Camborne, and on the sides of 
Carnbrea. Large heaps of copper and lead money have been 
dug up, buried in urns or under great stones ; and some few 
gold and silver coins of Trajan, Nero, and other emperors 
have been met with, and leather coins in good preservation. 

In barrows and cairns Roman pottery has been found in 
many places ; some urns are made of fine clay, like china ; 
others of coarse earth ; they contain ashes of burnt bones, 
brass coins, and pieces of swords. Urns of tin, and paterce 
of tin and stone, have been found. 

There appear to have been two Roman roads through 
Cornwall, both of which can still be partially traced. One, 
a continuation of the famous Watling Street, came down by 
Exeter, entered Cornwall at Saltash, passed through Liskeard 
and Lostwithiel, with branches to Looe and Fowey, to St. 
Austle, Truro, Falmouth, and the west : the other, through 
Stratton, Camelford, Bodmin, Redruth, and St. Ives, to the 
Land's End. The district of Danmonium included the three 
Roman stations of Isca (Exeter), Moridunum, and Cenium 
(Tregoney). 

In the year 231, the Britons rising in arms made Ascle- 
prodotus, Duke of Cornwall, their leader, and slew the depu- 
ty of the emperor Diocletian. In 329, Conan Merodach, 
whom Constantine the Great had appointed governor of 
Britain, was made Duke of Cornwall (dux Cornubia). A 
King of Cornwall, returning from a feast, was killed by the 



OF CORNWALL. 9 

son of Meroveus, king of France. Moigne, brother of 
Aurelius and liter Pendragon, was governor of Cornwall 
under the emperor Honorius. 



VI.— CORNWALL AND THE ARMORICANS. 



Between the fourth and fifth centuries, a large body of 
Britons from Wales and Cornwall, under the guidance of 
Maximianus, a Roman, either in flight from an enemy, or in 
lust of conquest, passed over to the opposite coast of France, 
and settled in the province of Armorica, Henceforwards, 
through a thousand years, and until the French Revolution, 
Armorica bore the name of Brittany, Bretagne, or Little 
Britain ; the people were called Bretons. A part of the 
country was called Danmonium, and many places in that 
province of France in their names, — and many families in 
their names and stoutness of heart, — still retain the memo- 
rial of their Cornish original. The people of Cornwall and 
Brittany were bound together in closest ties of friendship, 
and assisted each other against their enemies. Riothamus, a 
British king, led an army of twelve thousand Britons and 
Armoricans, to aid the Romans in repelling an incursion of 
the Visigoths ; and the Armoricans in later years fought side 
by side as brothers with the Cornish against the Saxons. 
They spoke the same language, and used (and to this day 
use) the same customs. 



VII.— CORNWALL AND THE SAXONS. 



The Roman troops were withdrawn from Britain in a. d. 
426, and the Picts and Scots made havoc of the defenceless 
a5 



10 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

Britons. The British youth, trained in the Roman army, at 
first drove them back ; but, overpowered by numbers, were 
compelled to ask help from the Romans, who more than once 
sent troops to their aid. Afterwards they applied to the 
Saxons, a people about the mouth of the Elbe, and these 
fierce allies speedily cowed the northern invaders. Vortigern, 
a native of Cornwall, was king of Britain at this time. 

But, coveting their fair land, the Saxons began to harass 
and plunder the Britons ; and though valiantly opposed and 
often defeated by Vortimer, the son of Vortigern, they called 
over other tribes of their country, Jutes and Angles, and 
effected a settlement in the county of Kent ; and Vortimer, 
being taken prisoner, was compelled to yield to them the 
counties of Essex and Middlesex for his ransom. Ambrosius 
Aurelius, a British prince of Roman descent, gained a great 
victory over the Saxons, with a body of troops brought from 
Armorica ; and his successor, Uter Pendragon, long warred 
with them with changing fortune. About a. d. 500, Prince 
Arthur was born at Tintagel Castle : his mother was a Cor- 
nish princess, and he a noble and religious prince. He con- 
quered the Saxons in twelve pitched battles ; confined them 
within their own county of Kent ; made them pay tribute ; 
and reigned as king over "Wales, Wilts, Somerset, Dorset, 
Devon, and Cornwall. Pie is said to have slain eight hundred 
Saxons with his own hand. The Romans having sent an 
army into Britain, to enforce the payment of arrears of 
tribute due to them, Arthur met them, routed them, and 
made them slaves. He was slain at last in single fight with 
his rebellious nephew Mordred, who had joined the Saxons, 
in the battle of Worthyvale near Camelford ; and was buried 
at Glastonbury. 

Constantino succeeded Arthur, and him Gerennius. 
Cadvan was succeeded by Cadwallo (who drove the Saxons 
out of Somerset by the help of the king of Brittany), and he 
by Cadwallader, the last prince of Wales and Cornwall con- 
joined. Up to this time the old British kingdom extended 



OF CORNWALL. 11 

"beyond the Exe, and Exeter was the capital ; but in 710, Ina, 
king of Wessex, and after him Cuthred, pillaged this terri- 
tory and circumscribed its limits. 

In 816, Egbert, king of Wessex, afterwards king of all 
England, with a great force invaded Cornwall. The British 
called in the assistance of the Danes, and carried on a resist- 
ance of six years ; but in the end the Saxon prevailed, and 
overran the country. Egbert retiring, the Britons rallied, 
but were again defeated at Camelford. Some years after, 
they made a vigorous effort to recover their lost possessions 
in Devonshire, but were driven back over the Tamar ; and 
making a last stand on Hingston Down, were routed in a 
decisive battle, in which their allies the Danes suffered se- 
verely. Hereupon Egbert made a law that any Cornishman 
setting foot on Saxon ground should instantly be " done to 
death." 

Alfred the Great was twice in Cornwall ; not as an 
enemy, but apparently as the guest of Dungarth, king of 
Cornwall ; in his will he speaks of Cornwall as part of his 
dominions, under the name of Tregoneyshire. In the time 
of Athelstan, A. d. 936, the Cornish were completely subdued. 
They had again occupied Devonshire, but Athelstan expelled 
them from Exeter for ever, and pursued them beyond the 
Tamar. Howel, the last king of Cornwall, incited his people 
to make another effort for their independence ; he marched 
far into Devonshire, but was again routed by Athelstan, on 
Haldon or Howel Down, near Teignmouth. Athelstan now 
entered the county in person, and achieved an entire con- 
quest, traversing it through its whole extent. He overthrew 
the remains of Howel's army at Bolloit, near the Land's 
End ; and then invaded and subdued the Isles of Scilly. He 
decreed the Tamar to be henceforth the boundary of the 
Cornish province, and imposed a yearly tribute of twenty 
pounds in gold, two hundred pounds in silver, twenty five 
oxen, and hunting-hounds and hawks at his pleasure j to- 
gether with banishing and bondage. He established colleges 



12 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

of clergy at Burian, St. Anthony, and in other places. 

But it does not appear that Cornwall was ever so sub- 
ject to Saxon rule as was the rest of England ; and up to the 
Norman Conquest it was governed by its own dukes, who, 
under the king of England, exercised a great though limited 
power. 

There are few Saxon remains in Cornwall. Parts of St. 
Germans, St. Cleer, and St. Martin's churches show speci- 
mens of what is probably Saxon work ; as do also Tintagel 
and Lesnewth. Possibly the Tower of S. Nicholas, Saltash, 
and some part of Forrabury church are Saxon ; and there is 
an old Saxon arch in Launceston. At the mouth of the 
Helford river is Porth-Saussen, the Saxon's port; and Port- 
Issyk on the north coast ; near Truro, Car-Saussen, the 
Saxon's castle. 

Orgarius, father of Elfreda, is recorded to have been 
duke or earl of Cornwall : Condor, or Cadoc, was the last 
earl, of British blood, before the Norman Conquest. 



VIII.— CORNWALL AND THE DANES. 



From the time of the full conquest of Cornwall by Ath- 
elstan, the Danes, who had hitherto been close allies of the 
Cornish, now considered them under the dominion of the 
Saxons, and preyed upon them without mercy. These savage 
pirates, proud of their name of Sea-kings, infested every part 
of the coast ; and landing unexpectedly at every hour of the 
day or night, in a country thickly peopled, laid the land 
waste with fire and sword. They plundered the churches, 
burnt the villages, slaughtered the inhabitants, and carried 
off gold and silver, goods and cattle, to their ships ; and not 
only destroyed the towns on the southern and western coasts 
of Cornwall, but advancing inland, burnt Bodmin, Tavistock, 
Exeter, and other towns. 



OP CORNWALL. 13 

Owing to the continuance of these merciless incursions, 
to which its exposed situation rendered it more subject, Corn- 
wall became in a great degree dispeopled ; the inhabitants of 
the coasts fled far inland, and the country for miles together 
was left a desert. 

But wnen Knute the Great sat down on England's 
throne, and the might of Christianity had conquered those 
whom the Saxon sword could not subdue, it was the interest 
of the Danes to protect the coasts of England. They there- 
fore beat off those dreaded freebooters of their own, and of 
other countries, who used to glut their insatiable appetite for 
war and carnage upon the Cornish shores ; and Cornwall 
enjoyed a long season of safety and repose. 



IX.— CORNWALL AFTER THE NORMAN 
CONQUEST. 

From 1066 to 1485. 






When England was conquered by the Normans, the 
western counties yielded a reluctant submission. Exeter held 
out against William eighteen days. Cadoc, the last of the 
ancient dukes or earls of Cornwall, was deprived of his titles 
and possessions ; but it is thought he was afterwards restored. 

In 1073, Godwin, and Edwin Magnus, sons of that 
Harold slain at Hastings, ravaged Cornwall, and retired with 
their booty to Ireland. 

In 1147, the Cornish assisted the Portuguese to expel the 
Moors from Lisbon : a body of them settled on the banks of 
the Tagus, and called their town Cornwallia. 

Two of the Bassets of Tehidy signed Magna Charta. 
Walter de Molesworth, Cheyne, Rowe, and Trevanion, all 
Cornishmen, accompanied Prince Edward, son of Henry III, 



14 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

to the Holy Land ; and Sir Richard de Greynville, De Prid- 
eaux, and Sir Walter Molesworth, attended him, when king, 
in his expedition into Scotland. 

In the wars of Edward III with France, the Cornish 
families of Cruwys, Carew, and Basset, won great names. 
His son, the Black Prince, was the first duke of Cornwall. 
The towns of Redruth and Liskeard sent a complement of 
soldiers ; Fowey and Looe, a fleet of ships and sailors, to his 
aid : while the county at large granted a subsidy of £50,000, 
and placed her silver and tin mines at his service. 

In 1348, a fearful pestilence desolated the county ; 
fifteen hundred persons died in Bodmin alone. 

In 1387, Sir Thomas Trivet and Sir Rohert Tresilian, 
were put to death by the Confederate Lords. In the reign of 
Henry V, on the plains of Agincourt, fell Sir John Colshul, 
of Tremaderet, whose body was brought over from France, 
and buried in Duloe church. To Sir John Trelawney, in 
acknowledgment of his signal services, Henry V granted an 
annuity of £20, and Henry VI an augmentation of three 
oaken leaves to his arms. 

Cornwall suffered severely in the miseries of the Wars of 
the Roses, and the great families of the county were ranged 
against each other in unnatural strife. John de Vere, Earl of 
Oxford, seized for Queen Margaret St. Michael's Mount, 
which he long held against Edward's forces. Sir Walter 
Borlase was knighted by Edward on the field of Barnet: 
John Arundel, of Trerice, raised a large body of troops in 
Margaret's aid : Sir Richard Vyvyan, of Trelo warren, was a 
gallant soldier in the service of the house of York. 

When the Duke of Buckingham took up arms against 
Richard III, a body of Cornish soldiers joined him, under 
Sir Richard Edgcumbe ; they were dispersed by Richard's 
forces, and their leader barely escaped with life. Sir Henry 
Trenowith, of Bodrigan, supported Richard in his contest 
with the Earl of Richmond ; his estates were confiscated by 
"he Tudor king, and granted to Sir Richard Edgcumbe; 



OP CORNWALL. 15 

who, together with Edward Carew, Hugh Trevanion, and 
others of his Cornish supporters, were knighted by Henry on 
the field of Bosworth. John Trevelyan, who had been 
attainted by Richard II T, was restored to his property. 



X.— CORNWALL UNDER THE HOUSE OF TUDOR. 
From 1485 to 1603. 



In 1487, Lambert Simnel landed in Cornwall, in the 
personated character of Richard, Duke of York, and was 
joined by 3,000 men. He laid siege to Exeter, failed to take 
it, and proceeding eastward was defeated by the king's troops, 
and sent to turn the spit in the king's kitchen. 

Parliament readily voted six-.score thousand pounds to 
the king, that he might punish the Scots ; but the Cornish 
grudged to pay two thousand five hundred pounds, their por- 
tion of the subsidy ; and being incited by one Flammock, a 
lawyer, and Michael Joseph, a blacksmith, they assembled at 
Bodmin to the number of 6,000 ; and without let from John 
Basset of Tehidy, the sheriff, marched through Cornwall and 
Devon, and took Taunton, where they slew Perrin, the king's 
commissioner, collecting the subsidy. Thence they marched 
on Wells, Salisbury, and Winchester ; and lastly encamped 
on Blackheath, four miles from London. Here Lords and 
Commons were gathered in strength sufficient to make head 
against them, and they were speedily routed ; albeit the rebel 
archers shot arrows a cloth-yard in length ; — " so strong and 
mighty a bow the Cornishmen were said to draw ; for these 
Cornish," writes Lord Bacon, "were a race of men stout of 
stomach, mighty of body and limb, and that lived hardly in a 
barren country ; and many of them could for a need live under 
ground, that were tinners." There were slain of the rebels 



16 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

about two thousand ; and the king was once in mind to send 
down Flammock and the blacksmith, for the greater terror, to 
be executed in Cornwall ; but being advertized that the 
county was yet unquiet and boiling, he thought it better not 
to irritate the people further ; so they were hanged at Lon- 
don, in June, 1496. 

In September, 1497, Perkyn Warbeck sailed from Ire- 
land, and landed in Whitesand Bay in Penwith ; having with 
him not more than four little barks, and six-score men. 
Large bodies of people flocked to his standard, which he set 
up at Bodmin, and he proclaimed himself King Richard the 
Fourth. Sir Peter Edgcumbe, the sheriff, raised the country, 
and advanced towards Bodmin ; but when his armed bands 
saw Perkyn' s army strongly entrenched at Castle Kynock, on 
Bodmin downs, and his horse extending to Lanhydrock and 
Cardinham, they would march no further, but dispersed. 
Hereupon Perkyn moved forward through Cornwall and 
Devon, and assayed the winning of Exeter; but being con- 
stantly repulsed by the citizens, he raised tbe siege and 
marched to Taunton : here he received the report that the 
king in person was advancing against him, and seeing that 
the Cornish were deserting his army in large numbers and 
returning to their homes, and fearing the fight, he fled by 
night on a swift horse to the sanctuary of the abbey of Beau- 
lieu, in Hampshire ; whence, having submitted to the king's 
mercy, he was taken and confined in the Tower. He escaped, 
and was taken again : again attempting to escape, he was 
hanged at Tyburn. His wife, the Lady Catharine Gordon, 
whom he had left in St. Michael's Mount, was seized and 
brought to the king, who received her kindly and maintained 
her till death. Lord Willoughby de Brooke, one of the 
king's commanders against Perkyn, lies buried in Callington 
church. 

On the marriage of Arthur, prince of Wales, with Cath- 
arine of Spain, in 1501, a third part of the dukedom of Corn- 
wall was settled on her as a jointure. 



OF CORNWALL. 17 

In 1505, the Archduke Philip of Spain, being driven 
by a storm into the harbour of Falmouth, was courteously 
entertained by the gentlemen of the county. 

In 1512, in a single fight between the Regent, com- 
manded by Sir Thomas Knevet and Sir John Carew, and a 
French ship, the French Admiral, finding himself over- 
powered, set fire to his ship, when both vessels blew up, and 
more than 1,600 men perished. 

In 1514, a French fleet entered Mount's Bay, and plun- 
dered Marazion. In 1519, one of the eighteen assistants of 
Henry VIII in his tournaments with the French monarch on 
the Field of the Cloth of Gold, was Nicholas Carew, a Corn- 
ish gentleman. During this reign, the names of Edgcumbe, 
Arundel, Denzel, Moyle, Grenville, and Godolphin, appear 
with fame among the western worthies : Roger Grenville, for 
his generous hospitality, went by the name of " The Great 
Housekeeper." Many of the knights of Malta were natives 
of Cornwall. 

In the reign of Edward VI, the Cornish rose in revolt 
under Humphrey Arundel. They desired that the old reli- 
gious customs might be restored ; which the king not grant- 
ing, they came on into Devon and strove to enter Exeter, 
burning the gates, and undermining the walls that they might 
blow them up ; but the citizens made stout defence, and 
withal worked countermines, and poured water on the gun- 
powder that it might not take fire. For five weeks the Cornish 
sieged the town, until the famine was so sore that the people 
within were fain to eat horseflesh, and make bread of bran, 
bound in cloths, for that otherwise it would not hold together ; 
and the rebels from without did taunt them, saying that they 
would shortly measure all the silks and satins in the city by 
the length of their bows. All this while the Lord Russel 
with his army lay at Honiton, expecting more forces ; but 
at last being joined by the Lord Gray with a supply, they gave 
battle to Arundel, and after much hot encounter forced him to 
raise the siege ; after this, the rebels rallying their forces, they 



18 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

were again set upon by the king's army, and the great- 
est part of them slain ; the rest fled. But when all mischief 
was over, it is memorable what cruel sport Sir William King- 
ston, the provost-marshal, made upon men in misery. Master 
Boyer, mayor of Bodmin, had been amongst the rebels against 
his will ; to him the provost sent word that he would come and 
dine with him ; therefore the mayor made great provision. 
A little before dinner, the provost took the mayor aside, and 
whispered him in the ear that an execution must be done that 
day in the town, and desired that a gallows might be set up 
by the time dinner was over ; and the mayor failed not of his 
charge. Presently after dinner, the provost, taking the mayor 
by the hand, in treated him to lead him to the place where the 
gallows was, and looking at it, asked the mayor if he thought 
it to be strong enough : "Doubtless it is," said the mayor. 
" Come then, my friend," said the provost, with a bitter grin, 
" get thee up speedily, for thou hast prepared them for thy- 
self." Whereat the mayor, quivering with fear, cried, 
" Surely, good sir, thou dost not mean what thou speakest 1 " 
"In faith," said the provost, "I speak what I mean ; for 
thou hast been a busy rebel." So he was hanged to death. 
Near Bodmin also lived a miller, who had been active in that 
rebellion ; and he, fearing the coming of the provost, told a 
sturdy fellow, his servant, that he had occasion to go from 
home, and therefore bid him to take his place for the time ; 
and if any did come to enquire for the miller, he should say 
that he was the miller, and had been so for three years. So 
indeed the provost did come, and asked for the miller ; when 
out comes the servant and saith with consequence, " I am 
the master." " How long hast thou kept this mill 1 " asked 
the provost. " Three years," said the man. "Lay hold on 
him, my men," saith the provost to his officers of justice, 
" and hang him on this tree." At this the fellow, sore amazed, 
cries out that he is not the miller, but the miller's man. 
" Nay, nay, my good friend," saith the provost, "I will take 
thee at thv word : and if thou beest the miller thou knowest 



OF CORNWALL. 19 

thou art a rebel ; and if thou beest the miller's man thou art 
a lying knave ; and howsoever, thou canst never do thy mas- 
ter better service than to hang for him." And so, without 
more ado, he was dispatched. 

Sir John Arundel of Trerice, vice-admiral in the west 
seas, for essential service rendered in this rebellion, was re- 
warded with the grant of some of the forfeited estates. Sir 
Thomas Arundel of Lanherne, who had married the sister of 
Queen Catharine Howard, was a privy -councillor of King 
Edward's ; but being suspected of conspiring with the Lord- 
Protector Somerset, he was beheaded. 

Queen Mary burnt one Cornish protestant, Agnes Prest. 
Queen Elizabeth hanged one Mayne, a Roman priest ; and 
despoiled the family of Tregeans of all their estates for their 
maintenance of the Romish faith. 

In the reign of Elizabeth, Sir Richard Grenville served 
against the Turks, in Pannonia, and was present at the famous 
battle of Lepanto. William Killigrew was sent by Queen 
Elizabeth to her secretary Davison, with an order that the 
warrant for the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, should 
not take effect. In 1588, when the Spanish Armada was de- 
defeated, the galleon Dudley, one of the ships of the English 
fleet, was commanded by James Erisey, a Cornishman ', and 
the county furnished 7760 men. In 1591, Sir Richard Gren- 
ville, in the Revenge, singly engaged a large fleet of Spanish 
ships near the isle of Flores : he repulsed them fifteen times, 
and destroyed four of their vessels ; until he himself was 
shot in the head and body, his men slain, his powder spent, 
his ship dismasted and riddled with balls : he died the third 
day after the action. In 1595, when Spain was mistress of 
Brittany, four Spanish galleys sailed into Mount's Bay, and 
burnt Mousehole, Newlyn, Penzance, and the church of Paul. 
In 1597, the Spanish fleets from Corunna and Ferrol, medi- 
tated a surprize of the vessels in Falmouth harbour, and had 
proceeded as far as Scilly, where Sir Francis Godolphin was 
prepared to meet them ; when a storm arising, their ships 



20 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

were dispersed in all directions, and the design frustrated. 
In 1599, when it was expected that the Spaniards would make 
another attempt on England, a large force of Cornish volun- 
tarily assembled, and plotted the making of a bridge over 
Hamoaze : camps were formed on Maher heights and at 
Fowey ; and strong garrisons placed in Pendennis castle and 
the Mount. In the same year William Godolphin headed a 
Cornish troop in the Irish war; and for his valour at Arklow 
was made a knight : he held a chief command in the decisive 
battle of Kinsale, won by the Queen's forces against the 
combined Irish and Spanish, and received in person the sub- 
mission of the Earl of Tyrone : returning to England in 
1603, he was elected member for Cornwall in the first parlia- 
ment of James I. In 1601, a hundred Cornish gentlemen 
volunteered to the Netherlands, to serve under Sir Francis 
Vere, among whom were Thomas Bonython, John Carew of 
Penwarne, Sir Thomas Baskerville, and William Mohun. 



XI.— CORNWALL FROM 1602 TO 1702. 



In the reign of James I, Cornishmen of note were Sir 
Jonathan Trelawney, Lord Carew, Sir Edmund Prideaux, 
Lord Robartes, Sir John Eliot, and Sir William Noye. 

At the commencement of the Great Rebellion, King 
Charles made the Marquis of Hertford commander-in-chief 
of the west ; Sir Ralph Hopton acted under him as general 
of horse. In 1642, Sir Ralph Hopton and Sir John Berkley 
with a hundred and fifty horse came into Cornwall, and were 
welcomed by Sir Beville Grenville ; and, the eastern part of 
the county being possessed by Sir Alexander Carew and Sir 
Richard Buller, two active friends of the Parliament, they 
marched to Truro, a town well affected to the king, where 



Or CORNWALL. 21 

they might rest and call the loyal gentry together. There 
was in Cornwall at this time an extreme reverence towards 
the Parliament, and a suspicion of the power of the Court ; 
but a full submission and love of the established government 
in Church and State ; and especially a great affection for the 
Book of Common Prayer, which was a most general object 
of veneration with the people ; and the fear that the Parlia- 
ment intended to alter it, was afterwards a chief cause of 
their firm attachment to the King's service. The greater part 
of the men of estate in the county were heartily in the 
King's cause ; yet there were some of name and fortune very 
solicitous for the Parliament ; while a third sort sat still as 
neuters. The committee of the parliament drew their forces 
to Launceston, and at the Michaelmas sessions made out a 
presentment against " divers men unknown, who were lately 
come armed into that county contra pacem." To this Sir 
Ralph Hopton appeared, and produced his commission, 
granted by the King under the Great Seal of England, and 
said he was come to assist them in defence of their liberties. 
Hereupon the grand jury declared that they were truly 
sensible of his Majesty's great favour towards them, and they 
thought it the duty of every loyal subject to support his 
Majesty's cause at any hazard of life or lands. They also 
preferred an indictment against Sir Alexander Carew and 
Sir Richard Buller for a rout at Launceston, and granted an 
order to the high sheriff to call out the posse comitatus. Three 
thousand foot, well armed, were thus immediately drawn 
together ; and Sir Ralph Hopton entered without resistance 
into Launceston : but when he proposed to march into 
Devonshire, the trained bands refused to go beyond the limits 
of their own county, for the defence of which only they were 
by law enrolled ; he therefore led them to Saltash, which was 
garrisoned by Scots, who fled at his approach, and left the 
Royalists masters of the county. But perceiving that the 
trained bands would be of no use in quenching the rebellion 
in England, they levied voluntary troops of foot ; and by the 



22 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

zeal and activity of Sir Beville Grenville, the generally most 
loved man of the county, Sir Nicholas Slanning, the gallant 
governor of Pendennis castle, John Arundel and John Tre- 
vanion, young men of great fortunes and excellent hopes, 
so large a force was raised, that, being joined by the Lord 
Mohun, they not only preserved Cornwall, but made bold 
incursions into Devon, even to the walls of Exeter. 

The whole of the parliamentary forces in Dorset, Devon, 
and Cornwall, were now collected under the Earl of Stamford 
for the conquest of Cornwall. Ruthven, a Scotchman, gov- 
ernor of Plymouth, endeavoured to force a passage at Salt- 
ash ; but being driven back with loss, moved higher up the 
Tamar, and crossed at New Bridge, having mastered the 
guard there. Sir Ralph Hopton retired to Bodmin, and 
called out the trained bands, and with his whole strength 
moved to meet Ruthven at Liskeard, before he should be 
joined by the Earl of Stamford, who, with a large body of 
horse, had reached Launceston. On Thursday, January 19, 
1643-4, they gave Ruthven battle ; Sir Beville Grenville led 
the van, and charged with so great valour that the enemy fell 
into disorder, and the Cornish so briskly bestirred themselves, 
and pressed them so hard on every side, — being indeed ex- 
cellent at hedgework, and that kind of fight, — that they 
quickly put the whole army to flight, and chased them into 
Liskeard, which they took without delay. But when resist- 
ance was over, the Cornish soldiers were very sparing of 
shedding blood, having a very noble and christian sense of 
the lives of their brethren ; insomuch as the common men, 
when pressed by some fiercer officer to follow the execution, 
answered that they could not find in their hearts to hurt men 
who had nothing in their hands. 

After solemn thanksgiving to God for this great victory, 
and a little refreshment of their men at Liskeard, the King's 
forces divided themselves : Sir John Berkley and Sir Beville 
Grenville went to visit the Earl of Stamford, who had with- 
drawn to Tavistock, and Sir Ralph Hopton and Lord Mohun 



OF CORNWALL. 23 

marched to Saltash to dislodge Ruthven, who had sheltered 
there, and fortified the place. These last fell on the works at 
Saltash with great bravery, and soon heat the rebels out of 
them, and then out of the town, many being killed, and more 
driven into the river and drowned, Ruthven himself hardly 
escaping in a boat. The Earl of Stamford quitted Tavistock 
on the approach of the king's troops, and fled to Exeter ; 
and Sir John Berkley following him, scoured Devonshire 
with a good party volant of horse, and dispersed the dis- 
affected. In a smart skirmish near Chagford, a village in 
the south of Devon, the king lost Sidney Godolphin, a 
young gentleman of incomparable parts and eminent merit, 
who, upon his observation of the wickedness of those men of 
the House of Commons, out of the pure indignation of his 
soul and conscience to his country, had from the first heartily 
supported the king's righteous cause. 

Sir Ralph Hopton made Tavistock his head- quarters, 
and there lay at peace throughout the winter, but in desperate 
need of powder and arms. At this instant Captain Cartaret 
came from Jersey into Cornwall, purposing to raise a troop 
of horse for the king; but hearing of their pressing want of 
ammunition, he shortly returned to France, and in return 
for such commodities from Cornwall as they could well spare, 
sent them an abundant supply. 

Some gentlemen of Devon and Cornwall now made over- 
tures to the king's officers that a treaty of neutrality should 
be entered into between the two counties ; and though they 
who knew best the factious humours of the party, easily con- 
cluded little hope of peace, they consented to a truce, and 
withdrew to Launceston. The house of parliament refused to 
ratify the treaty ; and General Chudleigh with the rebel troops 
passed the Tamar ; but Sir Ralph Hopton forced him back 
into Devon, and had brisk skirmishes with him every day. 

Towards the middle of May, the Earl of Stamford en- 
tered Cornwall on the north, that being the only part of the 
county disaffected to the king, with a large army, plentifully 
supplied with ammunition and victual; and having posted 



24 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

himself on a hill near Stratton, and strengthened his camp 
with thirteen brass guns and a mortar, dispatched Sir George 
Chudleigh to Bodmin to surprise the sheriff. The king's 
army was not half their number, and miserably equipped ; 
for though the people of Cornwall had submitted to a tax, 
which brought in ^700 a week, and the gentry freely gave 
up their gold and silver plate, and the ladies their jewels, for 
the public good, this liberality but ill supplied their pressing 
wants ; and they were so destitute of provision that the best 
officer in the army had but one biscuit for his daily allowance. 
Yet it was from the first resolved that they should fight the 
enemy at all hazard, and under every disadvantage ; and now 
the more in the absence of their horse. 

At daybreak on Tuesday, May 16, 1643, having stood 
to their arms all night, they assaulted Stamford's camp in 
four divisions, under Sir Ralph Hopton, Sir Beville Gren- 
ville, Sir Nicholas Slanning, and Colonel Basset. The battle 
continued at doubtful issue till three o'clock in the afternoon, 
when word was brought that their powder was almost spent: 
reserving therefore their shot, they made a combined move- 
ment up the hill, and with their swords outfacing the enemy's 
guns, made them give ground. General Chudleigh rallied 
his troops, and charged Sir Beville Grenville so smartly that 
he was borne to the ground ; but Sir John Berkley speedily 
relieved him with so vigorous a recoil on the general, that his 
troop was broken and himself taken prisoner. On this the 
enemy gave ground apace, and about four o'clock the four 
divisions of the royalist army met together at the top of the 
hill, rejoicing in each other's success, and all acknowledging 
the wonderful deliverance. The Earl of Stamford, who had 
stood at safe distance all the time of the battle, as soon as he 
saw the day was lost (some said sooner) made all imaginable 
haste to Exeter. The conquerors gave public solemn thanks to 
God upon the hill, and that night and the next day rested at 
Stratton, having found abundance of excellent provision in the 
earl's camp, with much arms and every sort of ammunition. 



OF CORNWALL. 25 

Sir George Chudleigh, who had dispersed the sheriff and 
posse comitatus at Bodmin, hearing of the rout at Stratton, 
fled to Plymouth : his brave son, the general in the fight, 
being a prisoner and coming to a sense of his duty, implored 
the King's pardon for his offence, and was received with many 
of his men into the King's service. 

The victorious army marched into Devon, and while in 
doubt whether to attack Plymouth or Exeter, or both, re- 
ceived intelligence from the King that he had sent Prince 
Maurice and the Marquis of Hertford with a body of horse 
to their assistance ; and that on the other side Sir "William 
Waller was advancing against them with fresh forces of the 
Parliament. Therefore leaving garrisons in Saltash and Mill- 
brook to defend faithful Cornwall, they marched by Exeter, 
where the Earl of Stamford still lay, to Chard in Somerset, 
and there joined Prince Maurice, the united armies amounting 
to 7000 men. They reduced Taunton, Bridgewater, and Wells : 
routed Sir William Waller's cavalry on the Mendip hills, and 
thence proceeded to Frome and Bradford ; and after severe 
skirmishes with various success, and vain attempts to bring 
Waller to equal fight, he being comfortably lodged in Bath, 
they moved on to Marshfield, intending to join the King at 
Oxford. On this Waller drew out his army on Lansdowne, 
raised breastworks on the hill and planted cannon, and then 
sent his horse to provoke the royal troops. Sir Arthur 
Haslerig with his cuirassiers (whom the cavaliers called the 
Lobster squadron, from their being clad in complete mail) 
charged the King's horse and put them in great disorder, 
but were at length beaten back by Sir Nicholas Slanning with 
the Cornish musqueteers, and chased to the brow of the hill. 
After taking time to rally in the plain, the Cornish foot 
desired to fall on again, and cried out that they might have 
leave to fetch off those cannon, and order was given to 
attempt the hill with horse and foot. The musqueteers were 
posted in the wood : the horse charged up the road. Sir 
Seville Grenville led up his division in face of the enemy's 



26 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

cannon and gained the ridge, having sustained two full 
charges of their horse ; but in the third charge, his troops 
yielding, he received among many other wounds a blow from 
a pole-axe, with which he fell. Meanwhile the wings of horse 
beat back the enemy's foot, and opened a way for the main 
body of their army to ascend ; who planted themselves on the 
ground they had won, the enemy retiring to a short distance 
in good order. In the night Waller fled into Bath, leaving 
ten barrels of powder on the field. 

In this hard-won fight the King lost more officers and 
gentlemen than private soldiers : but that which would have 
clouded the most brilliant victory, was the lamentable death 
of Sir Beville Grenville, that noble and religious man, the 
pride of Cornwall, the idol of his soldiers ; to whose devoted 
loyalty and unwearied exertions was mainly owing all that 
great work which had been done in Cornwall ; and in whom, 
to the most undaunted heart and sagacious mind, was joined 
the most cheerful, innocent, and gentle soul. Let Cornwall 
name him her best and bravest son. 

Sir Ralph Hopton had been shot through the arm, in 
the fight ; and next morning riding over the field to visit the 
wounded, he was miserably maimed by an explosion of gun- 
powder. Almost numbered with the dead, he was put into a 
litter, and carried to Marshfield ; his men being exceeding 
cast down with the morning's misfortune, for" he was indeed 
the soldiers' darling. 

Waller was still at Bath, his army being rather surprised 
and discomforted at the incredible boldness of the Cornish 
foot, than much weakened by the numbers slain, and having 
received supplies from Bristol, he followed the Prince to 
Chippenham and then to Devizes, and here summoned him 
to surrender. The Prince was in no condition to fight, and 
the town was open and difficult to defend; it was therefore 
resolved that the Prince and Marquis, with all the horse, 
should break through the enemy's line to Oxford, while the 
Cornish army, under Sir R. Hopton (who was so far recovered 



OF CORNWALL. 27 

that he could hear and speak, though he could not move or 
see) and Lord Mohun should hold out for a few days, until 
help should come from the king. The same evening all the 
horse got away safe to the king's quarters. Waller fiercely 
assaulted the town in many parts, but the Cornish still re- 
pelled him, and being in great want of match, searched the 
houses of the good folks, and took away the cords of their 
beds, which they boiled and beat and made excellent store. 
On the third day the Prince appeared again before the town, 
with Lord Wilmot and fifteen hundred horse, who fell at once 
on Haslerig's lobsters, and, after a sharp conflict, routed that 
impenetrable squadron, and totally dispersed the whole body 
of Waller's horse. As yet the foot stood firm, but Lord 
Wilmot turning their own cannon upon them, and the Cor- 
nish issuing from the town, they were charged on all sides, 
and flying pell-mell over the rocky brow of Roundway Down 
were destroyed in great numbers, the Cornish retaining a very 
fresh memory of their late distresses. 

Waller fled to Bristol, and the Cornish army fell back 
and rested at Bath, until the King was pleased to command 
that Bristol should be besieged, and accordingly on July 24, 
1643, Prince Rupert with the Oxford and Cornish forces sat 
down before it. The Cornish generals advised that it should 
be reduced by blockade ; the Prince Rupert, being hot and 
impetuous, and who could brook no delay, was for an assault 
by storm; and his counsel being adopted, the next morning 
both armies fell on, with no other provision for such a work 
than their own courage. On the west side the Cornish as- 
saulted the line in three divisions, led on by Sir Nicholas 
Slanning, Colonel Buck, and Sir Thomas Basset, and though 
they fought with that resolute courage that nothing but death 
could quench, and made such incredible exertions that some 
of the more terrified townspeople reported that the Cornish 
thought nothing of running up a wall twenty feet high, yet 
by the prodigious disadvantage of the ground and the great 
odds against them, they were repulsed with much slaughter, 
b 2 



28 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

and all their chief men killed or desperately hurt. Prince 
Rupert, with almost equal loss, in the end had better fortune, 
and having entered the outworks, sent for a thousand Cornish 
foot to second him, and was prepared to make further advance, 
when to the exceeding comfort of generals and soldiers, the 
city surrendered. But His Majesty's loss was so great before 
this city, and there were slain such numbers of tried and in- 
comparable foot, and such abundance of excellent officers of 
prime command and condition, that the King might very 
well have said, as Pyrrhus heretofore did say, " If we gain 
another victory at this price we are utterly undone ". On the 
Cornish side, besides Major Kendall, Colonel Buck, and 
many other noble officers, there fell Sir Nicholas Slanning 
and Colonel John Trevanion, the very life and soul of the 
Cornish regiments ; they were both very young, neither of 
them above eight and twenty, of solid wisdom, most gentle 
temper, and keen courage ; most loving in their friendship 
towards each other, and towards Sir Beville Grenville, whose 
body was not yet buried ; and both had the royal sacrifice of 
their Sovereign's most particular sorrow. 

The Cornish forces after the taking of Bristol, having 
lost the officers whom they loved and feared, desired to return 
home : they had been trained in a most regular discipline, 
were full of sobriety, and had an honest pride in their own 
natures, and a great disdain of plundering, and supplying 
their needs by vile arts ; and though by contact of bad example 
they had become somewhat less gentle, and refused at last to 
march with the other forces, they gained the deserved praises 
of all good men, and received from their royal master every 
possible demonstration of the extraordinary high esteem he 
had of their wonderful fidelity and courage. 

As a special mark of his singular favour, and in sincere 
and lasting memorial of his princely thankfulness, the King 
wrote the following letter of thanks to the people of Cornwall: 
it is dated from Sudeley Castle, a strong house of Lord 
Chandos in Worcestershire ; copies of it, painted on board, 



OF CORNWALL. 29 

still remain in Fowey, Menheniot, Perran, Kea, and many- 
other churches. 

"e as. 

TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE COUNTY OF CORNWALL. 

"We are so highly sensible of the merit of our County of Corn- 
wall, of their zeal for the defence of our person and the just rights of 
our Crown, in a time when We could contribute so little to our own de- 
fence, or to their assistance : in a time when not only no reward ap- 
peared, but great and probable dangers were threatened to obedience 
and loyalty : of their great and eminent courage and patience in their 
indefatigable prosecution of their great work, against so potent an 
enemy, backed with so strong, rich, and populous cities, and so plen- 
tifully furnished and supplied with men, arms, money, ammunition, and 
provision of all kinds : and of the wonderful success with which it 
pleased Almighty God (though with the loss of some eminent persons, 
who shall never be forgotten by Us) to reward their loyalty and patience 
by many strange victories over their and our enemies, in despight of all 
human probability and all imaginable disadvantages : that as we cannot 
be forgetful of so great desert, so We cannot but desire to publish it to 
all the world, and to perpetuate to all time the memory of their merits 
and of our acceptance of the same ; and to that end We do hereby ren- 
der our Royal thanks to that our County, in the most public and lasting 
manner We can devise, commanding copies thereof to be printed and 
published, and one of them to be read in every Church and Chapel 
therein, and to be kept for ever as a record of the same : that as long as 
the history of these times and of this nation shall continue, the memory 
of how much that county hath merited from Us, and our Crown, may 
be derived with it to posterity. 

Given at our Camp at Sudeley Castle, the 10th day of Septem- 
ber, 1643." 

On the fourth of September, Exeter had surrendered : 
Lord Digby, with a new regiment from Cornwall, had re- 
duced Barnstaple and Bideford, and the united forces laid 
siege to Plymouth. Sir Alexander Carew, the Parliamentary 
governor, was disposed to return to his allegiance and deliver 
up the fortress to the King, but while he delayed, his design 
was revealed by the treachery of a servant, and he was sent to 
London and executed. 

In April, 1644, Queen Henrietta came to Exeter, and a 
fortnight after the birth of a daughter, retired into Cornwall 
to Pendennis Castle ; thence she embarked for France. 

In July, the Earl of Essex entered Devon, and forced 
Prince Maurice to raise the siege of Plymouth, and retire 



30 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

into Cornwall. While at Plymouth, Essex heard that the 
King in person was pursuing him with his whole force, and 
he resolved to turn hack and fight ; but Lord Robartes, a 
man of sour and surly temper, and full of contradiction, and 
four or five other Cornish gentlemen who were with him, 
confidently urged that if Essex would march into Cornwall, 
the whole county would he united to the Parliament's service. 
Whereupon, contrary to his own understanding, the Earl as- 
sented, and crossing the Tamar, near Tavistock, on July 20, 
1644, took the Grenvilles' house at Stowe by storm, and ad- 
vanced to Bodmin ; and Sir Richard Grenville, the King's 
general in Cornwall, being worsted at Lostwithiel, fell back 
on Truro. On Thursday, August 1, King Charles himself 
entered Cornwall by Polston bridge, and the next day mus- 
tered his army on Caradon, where he was joined by Prince 
Maurice : Essex at the same time moved from Bodmin to 
Lostwithiel and Fowey. The King stayed nearly a week at 
Liskeard, and then took up his quarters at Boconnoc House, 
and with his forces on the east enclosed Essex on the right 
bank of the river Fowey, while Sir Richard Grenville pressed 
him on the west. Early on Saturday morning, August 31, 
Sir William Balfour, owing to the negligence of Lord Goring, 
made his way in silence through the King's quarters, with all 
Essex's horse, and escaped to Saltash ; and the next day, 
Essex himself, with Lord Robartes, took ship and got to 
Plymouth ; General Shippen, left in command, immediately 
capitulated with 6000 men. On Wednesday, August 4, King 
Charles left Cornwall, and though the Cornish were now 
anxious to gather in their harvest, they followed him to the 
siege of Plymouth ; but this place holding out more stub- 
bornly than was expected, the King could stay no longer in 
the west, and so departed, leaving Sir Richard Grenville to 
continue the blockade. The Earl of Essex had left Lord 
Robartes governor of the town, and between him and Sir 
Richard Grenville sprung up so mortal an enmity, that such 
men as were taken on either side were put to death without 



OF CORNWALL. SI 

mercy. Sir Richard once met with four or five fellows of 
the garrison coming out of a wood with faggots which they 
had stolen ; whereupon he made one of them hang all the 
rest. This Sir Richard was a brother of Sir Beville Grenville, 
hut of a wayward and unmerciful temper, and possessing 
little of his brother's nobility and tenderness; he was un- 
doubtedly very brave, and on many occasions rendered the 
King manifest services, but was impatient of control, and 
guilty of plundering and extortion. 

In 1645, the Prince of "Wales came to Liskeard, and 
afterwards to Launceston ; in November he removed to Truro. 
Sir Thomas Fairfax was now advancing westward with his 
victorious army, and Sir Richard Grenville proposed to the 
Prince that he should make an offer to the Parliament to 
resign all his claim on the crown of England, if they would 
suffer him to enjoy in peace the revenues of the Duchy of 
Cornwall : he had also another wild design of cutting a ditch 
forty miles long, from the north to the south seas, by which 
he said he would defend Cornwall against the world. At 
length, the Prince, worn out by his presumption, folly, and 
disobedience, committed him prisoner to Launceston Castle. 
One of his last acts was to fortify Launceston, and to make 
public proclamation of his own authority in the churches, 
that if Lord Goring should come into the county with his 
troop, the people should set on them and drive them out. 
Lord Goring had been one of the King's best generals, but 
having had a great quarrel with Sir Richard Grenville, he 
made a point of treating all Cornishmen with contempt 
and neglect ; and when at Taunton, he would slap his Irish 
soldiers on the back, and say one man of them was worth ten 
Cornish cowards ; so that his name, apart from his being a 
swearer and a plunderer, was sufficiently odious in the county. 

The day after Christmas day, which was bitterly cold, 
the Prince went from Truro to Bodmin, and thence to Tavis- 
tock, leading up a great force of Cornish to the relief of. 
Exeter, which was now besieged by Fairfax, but fearful of 



32 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

falling into the power of the rebels, he returned to Launces- 
ton. Lord Hopton (for His Majesty had been pleased to 
create him a peer by the title of Lord Hopton of Stratton) 
was now made general, and encountered Fairfax at Torring- 
ton with ill success : he fell back on Stratton, followed by 
Fairfax, who crossed the Tamar at Tamerton Bridge, in Feb- 
ruary, 1646. On February 12, the Prince went to Truro, and 
thence to Pendennis Castle; but being alarmed by tbe dis- 
covery of a design to seize his person, on Monday night, 
March 2, at ten o'clock, he left Pendennis and sailed to 
Scilly. 

Lord Hopton, with his ill-conditioned and disorderly 
forces, retired to Bodmin, and from Bodmin to Tregoney : 
Cromwell seized the passage at Wadebridge : Lord Mohur* 
came and submitted. The King's horse having refused to 
obey orders, Lord Hopton left them and they immediately 
made a treaty with Fairfax at Tresillian Bridge, by which 
they were disbanded. Lord Hopton joined the Prince and 
the Chancellor of the Exchequer (afterwards Lord Clarendon) 
in Scilly; and on April 16 the Prince sailed to Jersey, and 
soon after joined his mother in France. 

On April 23, St. Michael's Mount surrendered to Colonel 
Hammond, after a stout defence by its governor, Sir Francis 
Basset, who with the garrison had leave to retire to Scilly ; 
and Duke Hamilton, who was then in confinement there, was 
set free. Pendennis Castle held out until August: it was 
the very last fortress held for the King, for although Ragland 
Castle, in Monmouthshire, was not delivered up till two days 
after, the treaty for its surrender began three days before 
that for Pendennis. In May, 1648, Sir Hardress Waller de- 
feated "some forces in Cornwall, raised for the King. In 1649, 
was perpetrated that most atrocious and unparalleled murder 
upon the King's sacred body, and he, being the best master, 
the best friend, the best husband, the best father, and the 
best christian of the age in which he lived, was beheaded at 
Whitehall, January 30. In August of the same year, Sir 



OF CORNWALL. 



John Berkley and Colonel Shingsley, having been sent into 
Cornwall to encourage a rising for Charles II, were taken 
at Colonel Trevanion's house, and sent prisoners to Truro. 
The Scilly Islands had surrendered to the Parliament in 
1646 : in 1650, they were again seized and garrisoned for the 
King, by Sir John Grenville the governor, and endured a long 
siege from fifty English ships under Blake. Bernard Gren- 
ville, the governor's brother, threw in a large reinforcement by 
the aid of Mr. Rashleigh of Menabilly, where he lay con- 
cealed ; but in June, 1651, they were forced to yield, and the 
garrison of 800 men, with the governor, and officers enough 
to head an army, were all taken prisoners. 

Sir John Grenville was the eldest son of the immortal 
Sir Beville ; at the age of sixteen he headed his father's 
regiment, and was engaged in all the great battles in the 
west, and in the second battle of Newbury was left for dead. 
He attended Charles II in all his wanderings, conducted the 
negotiation with Monk for his. restoration, and was the 
King's messenger with his letter to the Parliament. Other 
noble Cornishmen, who perilled their peace, families, homes, 
country, lands, limbs, and life, in defence of their King, were 
Sir Francis, Thomas, and Arthur Basset ; John Arundel, of 
Trerice, and his four sons ; George, Edward, and Richard 
Molesworth ; members of the families of Trelawney, Tre- 
velyan, Godolphin, Vyvyan, Lower, Rashleigh, Penpounds, 
Roscorrock, Scawnes, Enys, Grylls, Shelton, Borlase, Piper, 
Nicholls, Harris, Wrey, Edgcumbe, St. Aubyn, and Scilly ; 
besides those many thousands of faithful men in the middle 
and lower ranks of life, whose names are unknown, but whose 
praise is equal. 

On the other side, beside Lord Robartes, Sir Richard 
Buller, and Sir Alexander Carew, are found few names of 
note ; Attorney General Prideaux was a member of the 
Long Parliament, and Captain Penrose served under Blake. 

At the Restoration of King Charles II, Sir John Gren- 
ville was created Earl of Bath, and John Arundel was created 
a 5 



34 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 

Lord Arundel ; and knighthoods and baronetcies were liber- 
ally bestowed, with other more substantial rewards, on the 
Cornish loyalists. 

Major General Charles Trelawney fought in France 
under the famous Turenne, Sir Boucheir Wrey under Mon- 
mouth in the Netherlands. In Monmouth's revolt, the Earl 
of Bath raised a Cornish regiment to oppose him ; it was 
reviewed by the King on Hounslow Heath, and he knighted 
Captain Beville Grenville, the Earl's nephew, at its head. 
On the landing of the Prince of Orange, the Earl of Bath 
joined him and surprised Plymouth ; he sent his Cornish 
regiment to Jersey under Sir Beville Grenville, and secured 
that island. General Trelawney also exerted himself to 
effect the Revolution, though sorry that his country needed 
it; he commanded in the battle of the Boyne and was 
made Governor of Dublin. But George Grenville, after- 
wards Lord Lansdowne, and Denis Grenville, youngest son 
of the great Sir Beville, and Dean of Durham, refused to 
give allegiance to William ; and Richard Trevanion, a naval 
officer, left England with James, and accompanied him in his 
descent on Ireland. 



XII.— CORNWALL FROM 1702 TO 1820. 



In the reign of Queen Anne, Francis Godolphin was 
Lord High Treasurer of England ; his name is honourable 
among churchmen, because at his suggestion the Queen gave 
up her revenue of first fruits and tenths to form the fund 
now called Queen Anne's Bounty, for the augmentation of 
small livings, and other spiritual purposes ; he also settled 
a, pension of j£200 a year on Bishop Ken. Sir Harry Tre- 
lawney was one of the aides-de-camp of the Duke of Marl- 
borough; and Sir Richard Moiesworth, in the battle of 



OP CORNWALL. 55 

Ramillies saved the Duke from being taken prisoner by 
mounting him on his own horse. Sir Charles Wager, a 
native of Talland, was a great sea officer in his reign. In 
1745, Hugh Boscawen, Viscount Falmouth, raised a regiment 
of 6000 men to serve against the Pretender. In the reigns 
of George II and George III, Cornwall contributed the fol- 
lowing names to the roll of England's worthies ; Admiral 
Boscawen destroyed Porto Bello, defeated a French squadron 
and reduced Louisburg ; John Eliot, brother of the first Lord 
Eliot, was Governor of Florida ; Admiral Harrison and Sir 
Richard Spry gained many victories over the French and 
Spanish ; Admiral Graves, for his bravery on the first of June, 
1794, was created Lord Graves, in the Irish Peerage ; Admi- 
ral Reynolds, in his fine ship St. George, and with a crew of 
many Cornishmen, was lost in a storm on the coast of Jut- 
land ; George Edgcumbe served in the Mediterranean and 
destroyed the French fleet off Belle-Isle ; having succeeded 
to a British Peerage on the death of his brother, he was 
afterwards raised to an Earldom ; Edward Pellew, Lord Ex- 
mouth, was commander-in-chief in the Indies, and in the 
Mediterranean ; he bombarded Algiers, and compelled the 
Dey to submission : Sir R. H. Vivian and Lord Clinton, 
with many other natives of Cornwall, were engaged with the 
Duke of Wellington in his wars in India and on the Continent. 
During the war with Napoleon, Cornwall raised seven 
regiments of militia, two companies of cavalry, and one of 
artillery ; the whole force amounted to nearly 5,000 men. It 
now furnishes two regiments of militia, the Duke of Corn- 
wall's Rangers, and the Royal Cornwall Miners. The only 
regular garrison in the county is at Pendennis ; some guns 
and ordnance stores are kept at St. Mawes Castle. 



#art «. 

ECCLESIASTICAL GEOGRAPHY OF 
CORNWALL. 

CORNWALL AND THE CHURCH, 



5*tt It 

ECCLESIASTICAL GEOGRAPHY OP 
CORNWALL. 

CORNWALL AND THE CHURCH. 



The Church of Christ in Britain existed in the days of 
the Apostles. There is direct evidence that the Gospel was 
preached in these islands hy St. Paul himself. " The blessed 
Paul," says Clement of Rome, "preached the Gospel 
throughout the whole world, and came to the utmost hounds 
of the west". Theodoret declares, " Paul brought salvation 
to the isles that lay in the ocean"; and Jerome, that " St. 
Paul, having been in Spain, went from one ocean to another, 
as far as the world itself". 

By the middle of the second century, the eastern and 
midland parts of the island were converted : Tertullian re- 
cords that the northern parts of Britain had become Christian 
before a.d. 200. Cornwall and Wales, the strongholds of 
Druidism, were probably the last to receive the light of life. 

There were three British Bishops at the council of Aries, 
in France, a.d. 314, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, 
and Adelfius, styled " Episcopus de civitate colonioe Londinen- 
tium" that is, Landaff or Carleonj and to the primacy of 
this last see the Cornish Church gave an early allegiance. 

Solomon is the first Cornish Prince on record who was a 
Christian : his son Keby, or Cuby, a zealous champion of 
the faith against the Arians, was consecrated Bishop by 



40 ECCLESIASTICAL GEOGRAPHY 

Hilary of Poictiers, and sent to preach the Gospel in Corn- 
wall, about a.d. 350. But to Corantine, a native of Brittany, 
must be given the chief glory of converting the Cornish : he 
was consecrated by St. Martin, of Tours, and landing on the 
south coast of Cornwall, preached and baptized in all the 
southern parts, and penetrated far inland ; and after a life of 
exceeding toil and peril for the Gospel's sake, died in 401. 
Many Cornish martyrs sealed their faith with their blood ; 
in 411, Melor, son of King Melianus, was put to death by 
his pagan uncle Rinaldus ; and a body of Christians from 
Ireland, headed by Fingarus, having landed at Hayle, were 
at once massacred by Theodoric, King of the west. Soon 
after, another party of missionaries landed at the same place ; 
part of them also Theodoric slew ; the rest he allowed to 
preach, and finally himself believed and was baptized. 

About 432, St. Piran, and after him St. Patrick, or 
Petrock, came from Ireland, and preached with miraculous 
effect. Ireland was then the " Mother of Saints ", and large 
bodies of holy and earnest men went forth from her contin- 
ually to do the Lord's work in heathen Cornwall ; they built 
churches, established schools, and taught besides the useful 
arts of life ; and from these Christians, as Piran, Columba, 
Buriana, Justus, Etha, Felix, Machutus, &c, many of the 
parishes in the county take their name. 

The later Romans cherished and extended the Church 
in Britain ; but the savage heathen tribes from Germany and 
Jutland, who succeeded them, became its bitter persecutors : 
they destroyed the churches, slew the priests, and spared no 
Christian man, woman, or child. The Christians, driven 
from England, fled into Scotland, "Wales, and Cornwall, car- 
rying with them the simple rites and uncorrupt doctrines of 
the British Church ; and Christianity, in its public profession, 
disappeared from among the kingdoms of the Heptarchy for 
about a hundred and fifty years. Cornwall was the common 
refuge for all the Christians of the southern parts of England, 
and thus became densely peopled; and the multitude of 



OF CORNWALL. 41 

small churches of that day, whose ruins still remain, or which 
are known to have existed, in some parishes to the number of 
eight and ten, bear witness to the devotional character of its 
inhabitants. 

The stone crosses of Cornwall are also the religious wit- 
nesses of the faith of those early Christians. They are found 
in all parts of the county, in churchyards, near wells, by the 
wayside, and often on open moors. They consist mostly of a 
single shaft of granite, with a circular head, which bears a 
small cross in relief; some are perforated in the head, and 
others rudely carved in the shaft. 

The Church in Cornwall was still governed by its native 
Bishops, under the primacy of the Archbishop of Carleon, 
and a constant communion was kept up with the Churches of 
Wales and Brittany. Nor does it seem that the Church in 
England was so sorely persecuted but that the succession of 
her Bishops, and the secret ministration of her services, were 
maintained ; for it was only as late as a.d. 595, that Theonas, 
Bishop of London, or Canterbury, in fear of death, fled into 
Cornwall. 

Within a year or two after, Augustine the monk arrived 
from Rome, sent by Pope Gregory to convert the Anglo- 
Saxons ; and his labours were blessed with an abundant har- 
vest of souls. Ethelbert, King of Kent, and many of his 
people were baptized; other kingdoms of the Heptarchy 
were immediately after gathered into the Church, and within 
the space of eighty-two years from the arrival of Augustine, 
England had once more become a Christian country. 

But the Cornish, Welsh, and Scotch, never having re- 
lapsed into heathenism, still held and taught the truths of 
the Gospel ; and when Augustine wished to introduce among 
them certain suspicious novelties in worship and doctrine, 
they resisted him, and denied his authority, and refused to 
receive orders at the hand of a Saxon Bishop. Hereupon 
Augustine appointed to meet their Bishops at a place in 
Worcestershire, since called Augustine's vale : there were 



42 ECCLESIASTICAL GEOGRAPHY 

present the Archbishop of Carleon, the Bishops of LandafF, 
Bangor, Hereford, and three others, called Paternensis, El- 
vensis, and Wicciorum, whose sees are unknown, but one or 
more of whom were most probably Bishops in Cornwall. 
" Since in many things," said Augustine, "ye act contrary 
to our customs, I require that ye obey me in four points ; 
that ye keep Easter at the appointed time ; that ye perform 
the office of baptism after the manner of the holy Roman 
Church ; that ye acknowledge the authority of the Pope ; 
and that ye preach the "Word of God to the Angles after our 
order." To which the British Bishops replied, " Our Churches 
owe all brotherly kindness to the Church of God, to the Pope 
of Rome, and to all Christians ; but other obedience than 
this we cannot pay to him whom ye call Pope : we observe 
the customs of our ancestors : nor can we receive thee for 
our Archbishop : we obey God only, and the Archbishop of 
Carleon". In later days the British Christians refused to eat 
and drink with the Roman priests and their Saxon converts, 
protesting that the new religion they brought in was worse 
than pagan idolatry. 

The Saxon Princes, zealous in their new faith, strove to 
force the Britons into allegiance to the see of Canterbury at 
the point of the sword : the Saxons defeated the Welsh in a 
great battle, and murdered a great number of priests at Ban- 
gor ; they in turn were overthrown by an army of Welsh and 
Cornish. Venerable Bede, writing at this time, calls the 
Britons "a wicked and cursed nation": and Malmesbury 
describes the Cornish as " a most defiled people ". 

Thus two separate Churches existed at once on the soil 
of Britain ; the Church of Rome prevailing in the east and 
south, the Church of Britain in the west and north. The 
Cornish Christians resisted the usurpation of Rome until the 
invasion of their county by Egbert, when they were put under 
the nominal jurisdiction of the Bishops of "Wessex, whose 
see was first at Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, and afterwards at 
Sherborne. 



OP CORNWALL. 43 

About a.d. 700, a council of the Saxon Church was held, 
in which Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne, was appointed to 
write a letter to Gerent, the Welsh King of Cornwall, to ex- 
hort him and his clergy and people to adopt the Roman rule 
for Easter, and to conform to the other practices of the Ro- 
man Christians. From this letter it appears that the Cornish 
would not pray in the same church, nor eat at the same table 
with a Saxon : they would throw the food which a Saxon had 
cooked to the dogs, and rinse the cup which a Saxon had 
used with sand or ashes, before they would drink out of it : 
and if a Saxon went to sojourn among them, they put him to 
a penance of forty days, before they would show him any act 
of kindness. Yet Aldhelm acknowledges that the Welsh 
Christians at this time held all the doctrines of the Catholic 
faith. His letter seems to have had considerable influence in 
reconciling many Britons to the use of the Romish rites and 
doctrines. 

In the early wars of the Saxons and British, it is to be 
feared that the prisoners whom they took on either side were 
made slaves, and it was a common practice for the Thanes to 
carry their prisoners to London and ship them off to foreign 
climes. The spirit of Christianity brought a change over 
this and other savage customs, and by the laws of Ina, a.d. 
700, the traffic in men was forbidden under heavy penalties. 
The British in Somerset and Devon were allowed to keep 
possession of their lands and to live as the King's subjects: 
the city of Exeter, or Caer Isc, was jointly occupied by 
Saxons and Britons, and severe punishments threatened on 
any of either nation who should engage in deadly feud. 

Pope Formosus having threatened Edward the Elder 
with excommunication for suffering the West Saxons to be 
without a Bishop for seven years, and specially in reference 
to Cornwall, because, as the bull recites, " that country re- 
fuses to submit to truth, and does not receive our authority " ; 
the King at once appointed Bishops of Wells for Somerset, 
of Crediton for Devon, and of Petrockstow for Cornwall, 



44 ECCLESIASTICAL GEOGRAPHY 

To this last see, in the year 905, he nominated Adelstan, a 
Saxon, and endowed it with the towns or manors of Pontium, 
Cohelling, and Landwhitton. 

Thus the Church of Britain, that ancient Church of 
Apostolic birth, which had flourished for eight hundred years, 
pure and independent on her native soil, was forced into an 
unnatural and unholy sisterhood with the Church of Rome ; 
and at length, being merged in her, conformed to her doc- 
trines and ritual, and became contaminated with her manifold 
corruptions. 

The Bishopric of Cornwall was transferred from Petrock- 
stow, or Padstow, to Bodmin; and in 981, the town and 
church of Bodmin having been destroyed by the Danes, 
Athelstan removed the see to St. Germans, and the Bishops 
took the title of Bishops of Bodmin and St. Germans : a 
list of their names (but which is not thought to be of any 
good authority) is preserved on a tablet in St. Germans 
church. In consequence of the continued ravages of the 
Danes, it was transferred by Knute to Crediton, and lastly by 
Edward the Confessor to Exeter, where it has remained ever 
since. 

But when the yoke of the Church of Rome became 
intolerable, and the Church of England by the convulsive 
energy of the Reformation shook off the mass of corruption 
that had been bound about her for more than five hundred 
years, and strove to walk again in her ancient way, the Cor- 
nish were as averse to resign the superstitions of the Roman 
faith, as they had been at the first unwilling to receive them. 
In the reign of Edward VI, as Master Bodye, one of the 
King's commissioners for abolishing superstitions, was pull- 
ing down images in Bodmin church, he was stabbed by 
one Kilton, a priest of St. Keverne ; hereupon the people 
incited by the priests, flocked together from all parts of the 
shire, some from hope of plunder, some out of real zeal for 
their religion, and choosing Humphrey Arundel their leader, 
they drew up seven articles of demand, which contained 



OF CORNWALL. 45 

nothing unlawful except a claim for solitary masses and 
reservation of the host ; these things the King in writing 
refused to allow, and the insurgents marched to Exeter, where 
they were scattered by Lord Russell. 

The Bishopric of Cornwall had " divers fair houses and 
large revenues" in the county, but Vesey, Bishop of Exeter, 
in the reign of Henry VIIT, conjecturing that the cathedral 
churches would not long outlive the suppressed monasteries, 
alienated a large portion of the episcopal property to his 
private use. The number of religious houses in Cornwall at 
the dissolution, were about forty, of these the largest were 
the College of Glasseney, the Priories of Bodmin, Tywar- 
dreath, St. Germans, and St. Stephens by Launceston. King 
Henry left a minute in his own handwriting for the erection 
of a Bishopric in Cornwall out of the revenues of these dis- 
solved monasteries. 

Mr. Beaufort of Lanteglos, and Mr. Polwhele of Newlyn, 
were the only two among the Cornish clergy who became 
Nonjurors. 

The counties of Devon and Cornwall form the Diocese 
of Exeter, in the province of Canterbury. Cornwall is con- 
tained in one Archdeaconry, namely, that of Cornwall. The 
Archdeaconry is divided into eight Deaneries, namely, 



1. East 


containing 


26 


parishes 


% West 




» 


19 


a 


3. Trigg Major 


?> 


32 


a 


4. Trigg Minor 


a 


20 


a 


5. Pydar 




a 


21 


a 


6. Powder 




it 


38 


„ 


7. KlRRIER 




a 


26 


a 


8. Penwith 




a 


25 


a 



207 
Of the eight Deaneries, five are of the same extent as Hund- 



46 ECCLESIASTICAL GEOGRAPHY 

reds of the same name, as West, Pydar, Powder, Kirrier, and 
Penwith, and the other three, East, Trigg Major and Trigg 
Minor, comprise the four Hundreds of East, Stratton, Les- 
newth and Trigg. The ancient office of Rural Dean has 
never fallen into abeyance in Cornwall. 

The parishes of St. Giles in the Heath, Werrington, 
and North Petherwin, with Northcot Hamlet, though civilly 
situate in Devon, are subject to the jurisdiction of the Arch- 
deacon of Cornwall. But the Cornish quarter of Bridgerule, 
and a small part of St. Budeaux, in Devon, which belong to 
the county of Cornwall, are not within the limits of the Arch- 
deaconry. The Scilly Isles are included in the Archdeaconry, 
and were visited by the Archdeacon, for the first time for 
many years, in 1847. 

The number of churches and chapels of ease in the 
Archdeaconry, is two hundred and sixty two : there are also 
several school-rooms licensed for divine service. The num- 
ber of officiating clergy is three hundred and seven. The 
parishes of Temple and Tregony St. James are without 
churches : the church of the first is in ruins ; of the second, 
destroyed. The Bishop visits and confirms once in three 
years ; the visitations of the Archdeacon are annual. 

The cathedral church of Cornwall is that of St Peter's, 
Exeter. Leofric, a Burgundian, chaplain and chancellor to 
King Edward the Confessor, was the first Bishop of Devon 
and Cornwall united in one diocese. At his request the 
King removed the united sees of St. Germans and Crediton 
to Exeter, ''for fear of the Danes, and because of the fewness 
of the people." The ceremony of Leofric's installation 
was thus performed ; King Edward first placed the charter 
with his own hand upon the high altar of St. Peter's Church ; 
he then led Leofric by the right hand, while his Queen 
Editha led him by the left hand, up to the episcopal throne, 
and placed him in it, in the presence of the dignified clergy 
and great nobles of the realm. After this time Cornwall was 
chiefly in the care of suffragan Bishops, dependent, on the 



OF CORNWALL. 47 

see at Exeter. Thomas Vivian, titular Bishop of Megara, 
and Prior of Bodmin, held several ordinations in Bodmin 
church ; and after him William of Hippo, in 1538. 

The present cathedral is the third church which has 
been built on the same site ; the two Norman towers standing 
at the end of the transepts are part of the work of Bishop 
Warlewast, a Norman, in 1112; the remaining parts were 
built between 1280 and 1420 by Bishops Quivil, Bytton, 
Stapledon, and Grandisson. The throne in the choir, the 
most magnificent in England, was erected by John Boothe, 
Bishop in 1465. The cloisters were destroyed by Cromwell's 
soldiers. 

Of the Bishops of Exeter, Bishop Bartholomew, con- 
secrated in 1161, took the King's part against Becket ; he 
was called " The Luminary of the English Church." Waiter 
Bronescombe governed the diocese with great ability and zeal 
for twenty-two years ; in one year, 1268, he consecrated forty 
churches in Devon and Cornwall ; he also founded and richly 
endowed the college of Glasseney, near Penryn. Walter de 
Stapledon was a faithful minister and friend of the unhappy 
King Edward II, who, when he fled from London, left the 
government of the city in the Bishop's hands ; but the 
office cost him his life, for the populace rising for Queen 
Isabel, beheaded the Bishop and threw his body into the 
river ; he is to be remembered and reverenced as the founder 
of Exeter college, Oxford. 

Bishop John Grandisson at a great expense completed 
the cathedral ; he was grave, wise, and politic, and was sent 
on matters of great weight and importance to the Emperor, 
the Kings of France and Spain, and other the mightiest 
Princes of Christendom. He was very frugal, kept no men 
or horses unnecessary, and ever despised all vanities of out- 
ward pomp. 

Bishop Myles Coverdale was appointed Bishop by 
Edward VI, he was ejected and imprisoned by Mary, but 
released and allowed to depart into Denmark ; he returned 



i 



48 ECCLESIASTICAL GEOGRAPHY 

into England at her death ; he was eminent in his holy toil 
for the translation of the Sacred Scriptures into English. 

The greatly learned and pious Bishop Hall was some- 
time in charge of the see of Exeter. Seth Ward was chosen 
Bishop after the rebellion ; he pulled down a huge party-wall 
•which Cromwell had built across the cathedral to divide it 
into two preaching-places, one for the Presbyterians, the 
other for the Independents, and cleansed and restored the 
house of God, and put up the organ now existing there. 

Sir Jonathan Trelawney, a Cornishman, was translated 
to Exeter in 1689; while Bishop of Bristol he was one of 
the seven Bishops imprisoned in the Tower by James II, be- 
cause they would not permit their clergy to read from their 
pulpits the declaration of liberty of conscience to Dissenters 
and Romanists. The Bishops were followed to the Tower by 
a vast concourse of people, kneeling in their way and begging 
their blessing ; the nobles kept court at the Tower, and the 
soldiers on guard drank their health. After about a month's 
imprisonment they were conveyed to Westminster Hall for 
trial, the people following them with prayers and acclama- 
tions ; and when the judges pronounced the verdict of their 
acquittal, because they had but obeyed the laws of the land, it 
was received with such " a wonderful shout," says Claren- 
don, who was present, " that one would have thought the 
Hall had cracked." " O what a sight was that to behold the 
people crowding into the churches to return thanks to God, 
for so great a blessing, with the greatest earnestness and 
ecstacy of joy, lifting up their hands to heaven; to see 
illuminations in every window, and bonfires at every door, 
and to hear the bells throughout all the city, ringing out 
peals of joy/' The Bishops themselves, immediately after 
their acquittal, went to Whitehall Chapel to return thanks. 

The Right Reverend Henry Phillpotts, D.D., is the 
present Bishop of the diocese of Exeter. 



I 



Sari HI. 
CIVIL GEOGRAPHY (XF CORNWALL. 



I. THE SURVEY OF CORNWALL. 

II. THE DIVISIONS OP CORNWALL. 

III. THE TRADE OF CORNWALL. 

IV. THE AGRICULTURE OF CORNWALL. 

V. THE DUKEDOM OF CORNWALL. 

VI. THE NOBILITY OF CORNWALL. 
VII. THE LANGUAGE OF CORNWALL. 



mn he 

CIVIL GEOGRAPHY OF CORNWALL. 

I.— THE SURVEY OF CORNWALL. 



The county of Cornwall is bounded on the north by the 
Bristol Channel ; on the west by the Atlantic ; on the south 
by the English Channel; and on the east by the Tamar. 
From the source of the Tamar to the sea is a neck of land 
about three miles broad ; but for this Cornwall would be an 
Island. 

The length of the ceast line from Moorwinstow to the 
Land's End is about ninety miles; from the Land's End to 
Rame Head about one hundred ; and from the Rame Head 
to the source of the Tamar forty miles. 

Cornwall is separated from Devon by the Tamar, by a 
rivulet in Maker, a line in St. Budeaux, the river Carey, a 
line on Sherston Moor, and the Marsland Brook. It lies 
more south than Ireland, Cape Clear being about twenty-six 
miles north of Moorwinstow, the most northernly parish in 
Cornwall. There is no land to the west of Cornwall nearer 
than North America : the northern part of the island of 
Newfoundland is in the same latitude as the county of Corn- 
wall. 

The Land's End is the extreme westernly point of Corn* 
wall and England : some parts of Scotland extend more to 
the westward. The Lizard is the extreme southern point of 
Cornwall, England, and Great Britain. 
c3 



52 



CIVIL GEOGRAPHY 



Of the fifty-two counties of England and "Wales, Corn- 
wall stands the sixteenth both as regards size and popula- 
tion, it contains 1,407 square miles, or 900,480 acres, not 
including the isles of Scilly. The population of the whole 
county in 1841 was 341,269 ; in 1851, 354,193. The increase 
from 1831 to 1841, was 40,331 ; from 1841 to 1851, only 
12,934. This extraordinary decrease is owing to the large 
emigration which annually takes place from Cornwall. 

The population of some of the parishes by the census 
of 1851 is as under : 

Camborne 12,887 most populous parish. 

Temple 24 least populous parish. 

Madron 11,699 

St. Mary's, Scilly .... 2,651 

Callington 2,142 

Calstock 4,530 

St. Hilary 3,021 with Marazion. 

Kenwyn 9,742 with part of Truro. 

Launceston 2,591 

St. Just in Penwith 8,759 

Falmouth 7,274 

Liskeard 6,128 

St. Mary's 3,108 with part of Truro. 

Gluvias 4,697 with Penryn. 

Paul 5,408 with Newlyn. 

The Mount 147 

Illogan 9,218 

Redruth 10,571 

St. Clement's 3,465 with part of Truro. 

St. Austle 10,750 

St. Agnes 6,673 

Gwennap 10,465 

Wendron 8,676 

Bodmin 4,705 

Looe Island 7 

St.Erney 79 



Of CORNWALL, 53 

The most populous parish in 1801 was Madron. 

1811 St. Austle. 

1821 Madron. 

1831 Redruth. 

1841 Madron. 

1851 Camborne. 
Moorwinstow is the most northernly parish, Landewed- 
nack the most southernly : Calstock the most easternly, 
Sennen the most westernly. Alternon is the largest parish, 
Tregoney St. James the smallest: St. Neot is the second 
largest parish, Lostwithiel the second smallest. Camborne 
is the most populous parish, Temple the least populous. 
Lanivet is the most central parish in the county, St. Germans 
the finest. Truro is the largest town, Penzance the prettiest 
town, Bodmin the county town. The Tamar is the largest 
river ; Brownwilly is the highest hill. The three peninsulas 
are Roseland, Meneage, and Penwith. The parishes on the 
west side of the Tamar, and yet in .Devon, are Werrington 
and North Petherwin. The parish on the west of the Tamar, 
divided between Devon and Cornwall, is Maker. Two parishes 
without churches are Temple and Tregoney. 

There are in Cornwall three St. Stephens, — St. Stephens 
by Saltash, St. Stephens by Launceston, and St. Stephens in 
Brannel, near St. Austle: three St. Anthonys, — St. Anthony 
in Meneage, St. Anthony in Roseland, and Anthony St. 
Jacob, or Anthony East, or Anthony by Torpoint : two Maw- 
gans, — Mawgan in Meneage, and Mawgan in Pydar : two 
Lanteglos, — Lanteglos by Camelford, and Lanteglos by 
Fowey : two St. Justs, — St. Just in Roseland, called also St. 
East, and St. Just in Penwith : two St. Columbs, — Higher 
and Lower, or Major and Minor : three Ruans, — Ruan Lan- 
ihorne, in Roseland, Ruan Major and Ruan Minor, in Men- 
eage : two St. Ives, — St. Ives in Penwith, and St. Ives in 
East, called always St. Eve; three St. Marys, — St. Mary's, 
Truro, St. Mary's, Scilly, and St. Mary Wick: two St. 
Agnes, — St. Agnes in Pydar, called St. Anne's, and St. 



54 CIVIL GEOGRAPHY 

Agnes, an island of Scilly : two Helstons, — Helston, a bor- 
ough in Wendron, and Helston, a manor in Trigg : four St, 
Michaels, — St. Michael Penkevil, St. Michael Carhayes, St. 
Michael's Stow, and St. Michael's Mount: three Perrans, — 
Perran-Arworthal, Perran-Zabuloe, and Perran-Uthno : two 
Pethericks, — Little Petherick, and Petherick Major, or Pad- 
stow : two Creeds, — Creed by Grampound, and St. Creed in 
Penwith : two St. Martins, — St. Martin's by Looe, and St. 
Martin's in Meneage: two St. Clements, — St. Clement's 
parish by Truro, and St. Clement's Isle, in Mount's Bay : 
two St. Breocks, — St. Breock by Wadebridge, and St. Breock 
by Helston, called Breage. 

From its being exposed to the full fury of the Atlantic 
storms, careering unchecked over four thousand miles of 
water, Cornwall has the most rugged and broken coast of 
any county in England ; its gulfs and bays are deeper, its 
headlands more bold and dangerous. It seems quite certain 
that at some short time before or after the Norman Conquest 
a large tract of land, lying between the Lizard, the Scilly 
Islands, and the Land's End, was submerged by the sea. 
The Scilly Islands were then only ten in number, the largest 
of them, named Silura, almost touching the mainland. This 
island consisted of a large, low plain, containing the town of 
Lyons, with several smaller ones, one hundred and forty 
churches, and a forest called the Wood of Guffaer ; the 
whole tract of land was called Lyonesse. The Saxon Chron- 
icle for 1014 relates, that " in this year came that mickle sea 
flood, widely through this land, and it ran up so far as never 
at no time before ; and it drowned many towns, and mankind 
too innumerable to be computed". Again, under the year 
1099, it records, "This year, on Martinmas day, sprang up 
so much the sea-flood, and so mickle harm did, as no man 
minded it ever afore " ; and Florence of Worcester says, " In 
1099, the sea comes out upon the shore, and buried towns 
and men very many, oxen and sheep innumerable ". In one 
of these, or other inundations, which happened between the- 



OF CORNWALL. 55 

ninth and eleventh centuries, the Lyonesse, and that large 
space of land between Tolpenpenwith and the Lizard, now 
forming Mount's Bay, were probably overwhelmed with 
water. There is unbroken tradition in the west in testimony 
to the fact, and the fishermen profess to have seen buildings 
yet standing under the water, and paved ways, visible at low 
tides. The Goodwin Sands in Kent may have been formed 
at the same time. 

The bays on the north coast are, Bude Bay, Port Isaac 
Bay, Watergate Bay, Perran Bay, and St. Ives Bay ; on the 
west, Whitesand Bay ; on the south, Mount's Bay, Falmouth 
Bay, Gerrans Bay, Veryan Bay, St. Austle Bay, and White- 
sand Bay. The principal headlands are, on the north, Tin- 
tagel Head, Pentire Point, Trevose Head, and St. Agnes 
Head ; on the west, Cape Cornwall and Land's End ; on the 
south, Tolpenpenwith, the Lizard, the Deadman, the Greben, 
and the Rame. The only inhabited island on the coast is 
St. George's Island, near Looe ; there are dangerous rocks, 
some sunken, some just visible, lying off most of the large 
headlands. There was a saying in Cornwall, "When the 
Rame and the Deadman meet," referring to that which would 
never come to pass. The sea on the coast is of an average 
depth, and the slope of the solid ground beneath it in gen- 
eral so trifling, that if the water were drawn off from its bed, 
Cornwall would appear to rise upon a vast plain. 

The shape of the county is that of a cornucopia, or horn 
of plenty, from which some will have its Latin name Cor- 
nubia to be derived ; children love to have it compared to a 
cavalier's boot and spur, kicking at the Scilly Islands ; like 
Italy, kicking away Sicily. 

The labourers of Cornwall are divided into three classes, 
miners, fishermen, and agricultural workmen. Of the higher 
classes, Queen Elizabeth said, " The Cornish gentlemen are 
all born courtiers with a becoming confidence"; and their 
high and chivalrous bearing in the wars of King Charles, 
bears witness to their bravery and nobility of soul. Of three 



56 CIVIL GEOGRAPHY 

great Cornish families it used to be said, " A Trelawaey was 
never known to want courage ; a Grenville, loyalty ; or a 
Godolphin, wit". In the western parts, the native race of 
Britons is mixed and crossed with the descendants of the 
Tyrian and Jewish colonists : in the midland districts some 
specimens of the pure Celtic family may yet be found : in 
the east, the Celt has met the Saxon, and the spirit and 
effervescence of the former, being tempered by the phlegm 
and gravity of the latter, the union of these two natures is 
the perfection of English character. 

The ancient games of Cornwall are wrestling and hurl- 
ing; in wrestling, the men of Cornwall and Devon have 
always been famous ; they hug in wrestling, that is, clasp 
arms round the whole body, as the ancients wrestled. Hurl- 
ing is not now so common ; it is a game peculiar to Corn- 
wall, and is played by large parties of forty or fifty on a side^ 
A player deals a large wooden ball, with a plate of silver 

inlaid, inscribed, 

"Guare wheag, 
Yw guare teag." 

that is, "Fair play is good play", and one party strives to 
seize this ball and carry it off to a goal, often four miles 
away, while the other endeavours to take it in the opposite 
direction. 

For her early traffic with the merchant-princes of Tyre, 
and for her connexion through them with Scripture and the 
east ; for her having been the refuge and resting-place of the 
ancient Church in the day of her persecution ; for her inti- 
mate connexion with the kingdom of England in some of the 
most stirring periods of its history, and especially for her 
heroic struggle in the seventeenth century in defence of her 
Church and King; for her saints, her crosses, her cairns, 
her cromlechs, her fisheries, and her mines, Cornwall is the 
most interesting and historical portion of the British empire. 



OF CORNWALL. 57 

II.— THE DIVISIONS OF CORNWALL. 



The county is formed into two divisions for parliament- 
ary elections, East and West. The boundary-line passes 
between Newlyn and St. Columb Minor ; south of Colan ; 
between St. Columb Major and St. Enoder ; west of St. Den- 
nis ; between Ladock and St. Enoder, St. Erme and Probus ; 
between Creed and St. Stephens and St. Ewe ; and between 
Veryan and St. Michael Cazhayes ; all places east of this 
line being in the eastern division, all west of it in the western. 

Each division of the county returns two members to 
Parliament: the polling places for the eastern division are 
Bodmin, Launceston, Liskeard, Stratton, St. Austle, St. 
Columb Major, Camelford, and Callington ; for the western 
division, Truro, Helston, Penzance, and Redruth. The places 
of election are Bodmin and Truro. 

The boroughs of Bodmin, Truro, and Falmouth with 
Penryn, return two members each ; Launceston, Liskeard, 
Helston, and St. Ives, each return one member. 

Before 1832, Cornwall returned forty-four members to 
Parliament ; all the following boroughs, returning each two 
members, were disfranchised by the Reform Bill ; Bossiney, 
Camelford, East Looe, West Looe, Fowey, St. Germans, 
Callington, Lostwithiel, St. Mawes, Michell, Newport, Salt- 
ash, and Tregoney. Grampound also returned two members 
till 1824, when its privilege was annulled for bribery. Hel- 
ston, St. Ives, and Liskeard, which formerly returned two 
members, now return each but one; and Falmouth is united 
in the franchise with Penryn. 

The county is divided into nine Hundreds, East, West, 
Kirrier, Penwith, Trigg, Lesnewth, Stratton, Powder, and 
Pydar. Domesday Book mentions only seven Hundreds, 
Conarton, Faweton, Pawton, Rialton, Stratton, Tiberta, and 
Winneton. 

The arms of the county are, sable, fifteen bezants, five, 
c 5 



58 CIVIL GEOGRAPHY 

four, three, two, one ; supporters, two lions rampant ; crest* 
a lion passant ; all proper ; motto. One and All. 

The chief turnpike roads are those from Torpoint, 
through Liskeard to Bodmin, St. Austle, Truro, Falmouth, 
Penzance : from Liskeard through Lostwithiel to St. Austle ; 
from Truro through Redruth, Camborne, and Hayle, to St. 
Tves ; from Launceston to Bodmin ; from Launceston to 
Camelford, Wadebridge, St. Columb, and Truro. The turn- 
pike roads are under fourteen Trusts, and extend over 335 
miles. 

The railways are, the West Cornwall Railway, from 
Truro, through Redruth and Hayle to Penzance, for the con- 
veyance of goods and passengers ; the Bodmin and Wade- 
bridge Railway; the Liskeard and Caradon Railway; and 
the Union Railway from Newquay to Par, connecting the 
north and south seas. 



III.— THE TRADE OF CORNWALL. 



The chief trading port of Cornwall is Falmouth, and 
Falmouth Harbour the first safe anchorage to vessels entering 
the channel. A great trade is also carried on frcm Truro. 
The other ports are Penzance, Hayle, Charlestown, Newquay, 
Padstow, Bude, Fowey, Port Isaac, and Looe. 

The exports to foreign parts are pilchards, tin, copper, 
and lead. The exports to other English ports are china- 
stone, soap-rock, antimony, arsenic, mundic. granite, and slate, 
which are sent to Bristol, Liverpool, Plymouth, and London. 

The foreign imports are tobacco (entered only at Fal- 
mouth), timber, grain, flour, sugar, rum, cotton, staves, &c, 
from America ; fruit, wine, brandy, wool, salt, &c, from 
Spain and Portugal ; cheese and butter from Holland ; hemp, 
tar, iron, linen, sailcloth* timber, grain, 6c c, from, the Baltic ; 



OP CORNWALL. 



59 



fruit, oil, silk, salt, &c, from the Mediterranean ; fruit, wine, 
brandy, flour, cattle, &c., from France. 

The British imports are timber from Quebec ; coal from 
Wales and Sunderland; groceries, ship- chandlery, earthen- 
ware, salt, manufactured goods in iron, cotton, wool, &c, 
from London, Bristol, Liverpool, and Plymouth. 

The woollen manufacture at one time flourished in Corn- 
wall, and Tregoney was the place of export ; later it was es- 
tablished at Menheniot and Callington, but is now decayed. 
There are large iron foundries at Hayle and Perran wharf, 
where the most powerful steam engines in the world are 
made ; and there are powder mills at Perran and Herodsfoot, 
and other places. There are some paper manufactories. 



IV.— THE AGRICULTURE OF CORNWALL. 



Agriculture in Cornwall up to Elizabeth's time was 
much neglected ; the land uncultivated, the people tinners, 
and dependent on Devon for food. " They had little bread- 
corn ; their drink water, or at best whey, for the richest far- 
mer in a parish brewed not abeve twice a year, and then, 
good lack ! what liquor. Their meat whitsul, as they called 
it, namely, milk, sour-milk, cheese, curds, butter, and such 
like, as came from the cow and ewe, who were tied by the one 
leg at pasture. Their apparel coarse in matter, ill-shaped in 
manner ; their legs and feet bare, to which old folk had so 
accustomed their youth, that they could hardly abide to wear 
any shoes, complaining how it made their feet over-hot. 
Their dwellings were walls of earth ; low, thatched roofs ; 
few partitions, no planchings or windows of glass, and scarcely 
any chimneys, other than a hole in the wall to let out the 
smoke ; their bed, straw and a blanket ; as for sheets, so 
much linen had not yet stepped over the channel." 



60 CIVIL GEOGRAPHY 

At the end of Elizabeth's reign corn was first exported 
from Cornwall to Spain, and agriculture has since gone on 
improving. Orchards were planted in Cornwall about that 
time, and it is stated that potatoes were grown here long 
before Sir Walter Raleigh brought them from Virginia. 

The principal corn crops grown in Cornwall are wheat, 
barley, and oats. The root crops are turnips, mangel-wurzel, 
potatoes, and carrots. The green crops are clovers of various 
kinds, rape, vetches, rye-grass or eaver, and cabbage. Hops 
were once much cultivated in Roseland. Peas and beans for 
cattle are not sown in Cornwall. Some flax is grown for 
the sake of linseed ; but neither hemp nor teazels are at 
present cultivated. 

Sea- wrack, called oreweed, and sea-sand, being formed 
of pounded shells and full of lime, are much used for manure 
on the coast. In the eastern parts Jirae is burnt in great 
quantities, limestone being abundant at Plymouth. 

Very excellent cider, of the rough-flavoured kind, is 
made in the Hundred of East, and generally throughout the 
county. 

The best honey in England is that of the neighbourhood 
of the Land's End, the bees gathering it from the fine heaths 
and other wild flowers that grow luxuriantly there. 

Oats and barley are bound in sheaves, like wheat; wheat 
also is oftener mown than reaped. The stubble left after 
harvest is called arishes, and shocks of corn, called arish-mows y 
remain many weeks in the field. 

The method of making butter by churning is not prac- 
tised in Cornwall. Milk is set on a gentle fire to simmer ; 
the scalded cream, which of itself is a perfect condiment, is 
then skimmed off and made into butter by being turned with 
the hand. This custom is peculiar to Cornwall, Devon, and 
Brittany, and no doubt was carried over into this last country 
by the Britons who settled there : it is a singular memorial 
of the Celtic race. The patriarchal practice of baking cakes 
on the hearth is still common in the inland and agricultural 



OF CORNWALL. 61 

districts. Turf is used for fuel on the moors, coal being dear 
and wood very scarce. 



V.— THE DUKEDOM OF CORNWALL. 



The first Earl of Cornwall after the Conquest was 
Robert de Morton, brother of the Conqueror ; William I 
endowed the Earldom with seven hundred and ninety three 
manors. Henry II gave the title to John, his youngest son. 
John, becoming King of England, gave it to his son Richard, 
a brave, religious, and powerful prince, elected and crowned 
Emperor of Germany and King of the Romans, but who 
resigned his foreign royalties, and returning to England, 
spent much of his time in Cornwall. 

Edward TI made Piers Gaveston Earl of Cornwall. 
Edward III erected the Earldom into a Dukedom, and gave 
it to his noble and heroic son, Edward the Black Prince ; 
and ever since, the eldest son of the reigning sovereign is 
held to be Earl and Duke of Cornwall, to come of age as 
soon as he is born, and to claim all the rights of the Duke- 
dom from his birth, without patent of creation. To this 
title was added that of Prince of Wales, which is conferred 
by the sovereign by creation. At the same time, Edward, 
though only seven years old, received from his father the 
stannaries of the county, with the coinage of tin, and all the 
profits thence arising, with many large manors, called the 
Lands of the Duchy of Cornwall, though not all in Cornwall. 

Richard II, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward V, Arthur, 
eldest son of Henry VII, and after his death, his brother, 
Henry VIII, all held the Dukedom in succession. Henry 
VIII alienated the honour of Wallingford from the Duchy, 
and annexed twenty-seven manors in Cornwall in its stead. 
He was succeeded in the title by his son Edward, and during 



62 CIVIL GEOGRAPHY 

the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth the Dukedom was invested 
in the crown. Elizabeth sold sixteen manors belonging to 
the Duchy ; but Henry, eldest son of James I, the next 
Duke, recovered them by law, and the purchasers lost all 
their purchase-money. Henry dying before his father, his 
brother Charles became Duke of Cornwall, and after him 
his son Charles II. The title lay in abeyance from his time 
till the accession of the house of Hanover, when it was con- 
ferred on George Augustus, only son of George I ; to him 
succeeded Frederick, his son; and to him, his son, George 
III. In the reign of George III, eleven manors in Corn- 
wall were sold by Act of Parliament, metals and minerals 
being reserved to the Dukes of Cornwall for ever. To 
George III succeeded his son, George IV. The next and 
present Duke of Cornwall is His Royal Highness Albert 
Edward, Prince of Wales, who inherits the Dukedom by 
right, as being the eldest son of Her Most Gracious Majesty 
Queen Victoria. 

The Dukes of Cornwall never had a residence in Corn- 
wall, but the Earls before them lived at Launceston Castle, 
occasionally occupying Tintagel, Restormel, Liskeard, and 
Moresk. 

The Duchy lands are far more extensive than those of 
any other holding in the county. 

The Duke formerly possessed in Cornwall ten castles ; 
nine parks, and one forest, all full of deer ; fifty-three 
manors, thirteen boroughs, and extensive parts of moorlands. 
In the necessity of the Crown in the Rebellion, a large part 
of the Duchy lands in Cornwall, with the whole of the lands 
attached to the Principality of Wales and Earldom of Ches- 
ter, were sold to raise money. The land revenue in Cornwall 
is now about £5,000 a year, the tin dues about £10,000. 
The Duchy includes the city of Exeter, and the whole of 
Dartmoor, in Devonshire, and many other lands in various 
parts of England. 

All the Hundreds of the county were ancieiitly attached 



OF CORNWALL. 63 

to the Earldom of Cornwall, except Penwith, of which two- 
thirds also were the property of the Duchy up to the reign of 
Charles I. 



VI.— THE NOBILITY OF CORNWALL. 



Cornwall gave the title of Earl before the Norman Con- 
quest. Many Cornish peerages were granted by the Kings 
of England, but in Elizabeth's time they had all become 
extinct. 

The ennobled families of Cornwall are, that of Boscawen, 
by the title of Viscount Falmouth and Boscawen, whose 
seat is Tregothnan : that of Trefusis, by the title of Lord 
Clinton and Say : that of Mount Edgcumbe, whose title 
is Earl of Mount Edgcumbe and Cothele, and Viscount 
Valletort, and its seat, Mount Edgcumbe, in Devon : that of 
Eliot, by the title of Earl of St. Germans and Baron Eliot, 
of Port Eliot in St. Germans : that of Graves, by the title 
of Baron Graves of Gravesend, in the Irish peerage, whose 
seat is Thanckes, in Anthony : that of Basset, Baron of 
Tehidy and Lord Basset of Stratton, whose seat is Tehidy 
Park, in Illogan : that of Vivian, Lord Vivian of Truro, 
whose seat is Glynn. 

The extinct peerage of Cornwall contains a list of names 
famous in their day, as Bottreaux, Bonville, Pomeroy, Car- 
dinan, Archdekne, Robartes, Mohim, Grenville, Arundel, 
and Godolphin. And their houses have perished with them ; 
of Bottreaux Castle the mount only remains ; of Lord Bon- 
ville's seat at Trelawney there are a few ruins ; Trerice, the 
seat of the Arundels, is a farm-house ; so is Godolphin, and 
many others ; Stow, the most noble mansion in the west, is 
utterly demolished ; Lanherne is a nunnery. 

Noblemen connected with Cornwall are, the Duke of 



61 CIVIL GEOGRAPHY 

Northumberland, to whom the manor and castle of Launces- 
ton belong, and Werrington Park ; the Duke of Leeds, to 
whom Godolphin belongs ; and the Duke of Bedford, who 
holds the manor of Anthony, and others. The Earl of Sand- 
which has estates in West and Penwith. 

The family of Erskine was ennobled by the title of Baron 
Restormel, but they have no land in the county. Restormel 
is the property of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe. 

The Lord Lieutenant of the county is Sir W. L. S. Tre- 
lawney, of Harewood, Calstock. 



VII.— THE LANGUAGE OF CORNWALL. 



The British language was a dialect of the Gaelic or 
Keltic, and is of the same family as the Erse, Irish, Welsh, 
and Armorican. It is of Eastern origin, having a common 
birth with Egyptian, Arabic, and Chaldee, namely, from the 
Hebrew. It is extinct as a spoken tongue, but exists in a 
few manuscripts and books, and in the names of towns, 
manors, castles, houses, capes, lakes, hills, rivers, and fami- 
lies, in mining and fishing terms, in the names of household 
vessels, tools of husbandry, &c. ; but in the eastern parts 
these names are often half Saxon. 

By Tre, Ros, Car, Lan, Pol, and Pen, 
You well may know all Comiehmen. 

It was generally spoken till after Edward I, and partially 
after Henry VIII, but frequent intercourse with England, 
and the use of the English language in forms of law, and in 
the Church services, caused it rapidly to decline. The Vicar 
of Menheniot was the first parson who taught his people the 
Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Commandments, in Eng- 
lish, at the end of the reign of Henry VIII. In 1610 it was 
much used in the western Hundreds ; in 1640, the Vicar of 



OF CORNWALL. 65 

Feock used to administer the Holy Communion in Cornish, 
because the old people did not sufficiently understand Eng- 
lish ; in St. Paul and St. Just it was commonly spoken by 
the fishermen and tinners in 1650. In 1678 the Rector of 
Landewednack preached a sermon in Cornish, and this is the 
last account of its having been used in public worship. In 
1701, it was heard only in a few villages in the extreme west; 
in 1746, a sailor from Mount's Bay, going on shore at Mor- 
laix to buy vegetables, found that the Bretons understood 
Cornish better than his own countrymen : in 1768, Dolly 
Pentreath, an old fisherwoman of Mousehole, spoke it fluent- 
ly, but only a few aged people could understand her. In 
1777, John Nancarrow, of Marazion, conversed in Cornish: 
in 1790 it was spoken near the Land's End, and William 
Matthews, who died at Newlyn in 1800, was well acquainted 
with it. This is the last record of the Cornish language : it 
is now totally extinct, though the tone of the language, a 
monotonous chant, is still preserved. Better English is 
spoken in Cornwall than in Devon or Somerset. 

The first book printed in Cornish was Lhuyd's Cornish 
Grammar in 1707. There are several manuscripts of vellum, 
written in Cornish, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, one 
as old as 1036, containing a history of our Saviour's Passion. 

In the construction of sentences in Cornish grammar, 
the adjective generally follows the substantive, as Paz agan, 
Father ours ; and March guiddn, Horse white ; the preposi- 
tion follows the word it governs ; the nominative case, 
whether noun or pronoun, and the objective also, are often 
incorporated with the verb ; letters are changed in the begin- 
ning, middle, and end of words, to form the difference in 
gender, number, case, or tense ; and several words are com- 
pounded into one, for the sake of brevity of expression. 

The Apostles' Creed in Cornish, as formerly used in all 
churches, runs thus : 

" Me agris aez en Du, an Tas Allcgollogack, wr esses a 
Neu hag doar : 



66 CIVIL GEOGRAPHT 

Hag en Jesu Chrest, ys nuell mab agan arluth : neb ve 
concevijis ryb an hairon sperres : genjis ay an Voz Mareea, 
cothoff orthoff Pontius Pilat : ve crowsye, maraws, ag bothens : 
of deskynas en the Iffran : hag an trysa jouma ef sevye arte 
thort an maraws : ef askynnas en the Neuf : hag setvah wor an 
dighow dome ay Du, an Tas Allogollogack : rag en a ef fyth 
dos the judgge an beaw hag an maraws. 

Me agris en benegas spirres : an hairon catholic egles : an 
communion an sans : an givyans ay peags : an sevyans ay an 
corfe : hag an bewe regnaveffere. Amen. 

Other specimens of Cornish are these : 
" Meea navidna cawzasawznech." I can speak no Saxonage. 
" Meor ras tha Dim." Many thanks to God. 

The following words are still in continual use : 

Whisht, melancholy, miserable. 

Tine, to light. 

Clunk, to swallow. 

Gook, a sun bonnet. 

Pillom, dust. 

Arish, stubble. 

Clomb, earthenware. 

Scat, to break. 

Sclum, to scratch. 

Slock, to beguile, 
with many others. 

DOLLY PENTREATH'S EPITAPH. 

" Coth Dell Pentreath cans ha dean, 
Marow ha kledyz ed Paul plen ; — 
Na ed an Eglos, gan pobel bras, 
Bes ed Eglos-hay, coth Dolly es." 

" Old Doll Pentreath, one hundred aged and two, 
Deceased and buried in Paul parish too ; 
Not in the Church, with people great and high, 
But in the Churchyard doth old Dolly lie." 



OF CORNWALL. 67 



CORNISH NAMES OF THE MONTHS. 

Mis-Genver, or Cold Air Month, January. 
Hu-evral, or Whirling Month, February. 
Mis-merh, or Horse Month, March. 
Mis-ebrall, or Primrose Month,") . ., 
Abrilly, or Mackarel Month, / P 
Mis-me, or Flower Month, May. 
Mis-epham, or Summer Month, June. 
Mis-gorephan, or Head Summer Month, July. 
Mis-east, or Harvest Month, August. 
Mis-guerdn-gala, or White Straw Month, September. 
Mis-edra, or Watery Month, October. 
Mis-dhiij or Black Month, November. 
Mis-kevardin, or Month following Black Month, De- 
cember. 

The ancient Cornish kingdom extended into Devonshire 
as far as the river Exe ; and the Cornish language was spoken 
in the South-Hams district in that county as late as the 
time of Edward I, though the Cornish had been driven be- 
yond the Tamar three centuries before. 



©art IV. 
NATURAL GEOGRAPHY OF CORNWALL, 



I. CLIMATE OP CORNWALL. 

II. SURFACE. OF CORNWALL. 

III. GEOLOGY OF CORNWALL. 

IV. MINERALS OF CORNWALL. 

V. RIVERS OF CORNWALL. 

VI. LAKES OF CORNWALL. 

VII. HILLS OF CORNWALL. 

VIII. PLANTS OF CORNWALL. 
IX. ANIMALS OF CORNWALL, 



$art IV. 
NATURAL GEOGRAPHY OP CORNWALL, 

I.— CLIMATE OF CORNWALL. 



The air of Cornwall is moist, especially on the coast^ 
but mild and extremely genial. Flushing, near Falmouth, 
and Marazion, near Penzance, have the fame of being the 
most sheltered and healthy spots in the county. 

The wet months of Cornwall are October, November, 
December, January, and rain falls in great abundance. The 
average number of fine days in the year is 114: of rainy 
164 : of cloudy and changeable 87. The spring is late : so 
are the harvests. The winter is mild : there is seldom much 
ice or snow, and the range of the thermometer in the west, 
in the three coldest months, in shelter, is from 44° to 50°. 
The mean annual temperature at Penzance is 54° 5'. Corn- 
wall therefore possesses one of the most equable climates in 
Europe. 

The summers are generally cool, and fruits from want of 
heat, have not much sweetness or flavour ; some sorts will 
not ripen. Barley has been sown, mown, and threshed within 
nine weeks, about the Lizard. 

Winds are very violent on the west coast, and the storms 
terrible. It has been said that the north west wind is the 
scourge of Cornwall ; we will rather say, it is God's good 
gift to bring us pure air and health. Cornwall is not subject 
to thunder-storms, but when they come, they often break with 



72 NATURAL GEOGRAPHY 

great violence; Borne hailstones of large size have fallen, and 
the lightning has furrowed the earth as a plough-share 
would, has burst large rocks asunder, and shattered the 
towers of many churches. 

Mineral vapours have been known to arise out of the 
earth and take fire. There is a singular electric light seen 
constantly in winter near St. Austle. The ignis fatuus, or 
will-o'-the-wisp, aurora borealis, and other meteors ; parhelia 
and lunar rainbows, are not uncommon. Waterspouts hover 
around the coasts, and have often burst on the land with 
grievous results, filling mines and drowning many men. There 
have been at times destructive whirlwinds. 

The shock of the Lisbon earthquake was felt at St. 
Michael's Mount, the sea ebbing and flowing in a strange 
and sudden manner ; and shocks of earthquakes have been 
felt of late years, running across the county, and making the 
earth tremble at the bottom of the deepest mines. 

People live to a great age in Cornwall ; there are many 
records in the parish registers of persons aged from 100 to 
150 years. 



II.— SURFACE OF CORNWALL. 



The soils of Cornwall are three, growan, shelf, and loam. 
Growan is a light, black, peat-earth, mixed with particles of 
crumbled granite ; below this is often a bed of quartz, and 
below this yellow clay. Shelf is the most prevalent kind of 
earth ; it is decomposed clay-slate, and according to its sub- 
stratum, is either a very fertile or a hungry and greedy soil. 
The loamy soils in the lowlands, along the river-courses, and 
in the valleys which run up inland, are very rich and fruitful, 
being full of alluvial deposits from the hills. 

Round Stratton on the north-east is a fertile district on 



OF CORNWALL. 73 

deep clay, producing much corn. Another rich district ex- 
tends along the banks of the Camel from Lanteglos to Pad- 
stow i and thence to Cubert westward, where the crops are very 
heavy, and barley is sown immediately after wheat. The 
corn of Padstow is the best in the county. Further south of 
Phillack, ninety bushels of barley have been raised on one 
acre of land. 

From the Land's End across the county to Penryn and 
up the coast to St. Agnes, the soil is on granite, and fitter 
for pasturage, barley, and oats, than wheat, 

The eastern side of Meneage includes the richest tract 
of land in England, and all the parishes round Mount's Bay 
make large returns of produce. It is said that a thousand 
acres round Penzance are let for ten thousand pounds a 
year, and that nine hundred bushels of potatoes have been 
raised on one acre, 

Roseland is famous for producing all the fruits of the 
earth in abundance, and for its sweet mutton. The country 
between the Fowey and the Fal is called the granary of 
Cornwall. 

From the Fowey to the Tamar, including the southern 
parts of the hundreds of West and East, as far inland as 
Liskeard, the clay-slate throws up excellent wheat and barley 
to the very edge of the sea-cliffs. 

The north coast from St. Perran to Tintagel, where not 
overblown by sand, is shelfy, and in some places of a deep, 
fat mould, good for all grain, and yielding rich pasture for 
sheep. The shores are covered with millions of small shell- 
snails, on which the sheep feed greedily. 

The middle parts of the county are open, waste, and 
barren, without wood, the soil black, bearing a few heaths, 
furze, and rusty grasses. 

The scenery of the north coast is grand ; the cliffs are 
high, steep, and craggy, and go down straight into the ocean, 
or are bordered by a belt of sand ; there are often pretty 
little beaches between the cliffs. Vast drifts of sand have 

D 



74 NATURAL GEOGRAPHY 

been thrown up on this coast, and a tremendous sea beats 
along the whole length of the north-western shores. 

The coast-scenery on the south is not so striking, but in 
many parts, as in St. Anthony in Roseland, Fowey, St. 
Martins, and St. Germans, is very beautiful ; and the mouths 
of the valleys opening seawards, and often traversed by small 
rivers, fringed with wood, present views that may not be ex- 
celled. 

The inland aspect of the country is that of continued 
succession of hill and valley : the hills low, but steep and very 
numerous. A ridge of granite rocks, (similar to those of 
Devon, but severed from them by the deep vale through 
which the Tamar flows) passes through the centre of the 
county, like a huge broken backbone, from east to west ; its 
jagged and storm-beaten summits, called tors, rise from 500 
to nearly 1,400 feet in height, and from its northern and 
southern slopes the rivers of Cornwall descend, the largest 
flowing down the southern side. ». 

There is much more rain on the northern side of the 
great range of central highlands than on the southern ; for 
the westernly and north-westernly winds, which most prevail, 
drive the clouds against the side exposed to them, and there, 
being intercepted by the hill -tops, descend in copious showers. 



III.— GEOLOGY OF CORNWALL. 



From Moorwinstow to Boscastle, and thence through 
Lesnewth and St. Cleather to Launceston and the Tamar, 
. including the Hundreds of Stratton and Trigg, the under- 
soil is slate, lying* on the granite of the central hills. 

Red sandstone appears at Cawsand, and on the shore of 
Whitesand Bay, and porphyry at Redding Point, in the Sound. 

From Tintagel Point to St. Ives' Bay, the prevailing for- 



OP CORNWALL. 75 

mation is slates and grits, (with fine clay slates in St. Teath); 
crossing from St. Ives to Penzance some trappean rocks 
appear. 

The twelve western parishes of Penwith are almost 
wholly of granite formation. 

Around Mount's Bay to Mullion Isle, trappean rocks, 
slates, granite, felspar, and porphyry are found in conjunction. 
Opposite Mullion Isle the range of the famous serpentine 
rocks commences, and embraces the whole headland of the 
Lizard up to the Manacles, traversed with slate, asbestos, 
and the steatite. 

From Falmouth Harbour to the Rame, the coast con- 
sists of schist or clay- slate, which extends inland over the 
lower part of the Hundreds of East and West, and up the 
Tamar to Calstock. 

In Veryan, Gorran, and Talland, limestone shows in 
small patches. 

* A great granite mass extends from Camelford to St. 
Cleer on the east, and Bodmin on trie west ; this range in- 
cludes Brownwilly, Roughtor, Kilmar, and Caradon, the four 
highest hills in the county. Northwards and southwards of 
this ridge trappean rocks come up mingled with slate. In 
Menheniot is a solitary mass of serpentine, rising out of a 
wide plain of schist. 

Another great island of granite pushing up through clay- 
slate, stretches from the Fowey to the Fal, at a breadth of 
about six miles, skirted with veins of porphyry of extreme 
hardness. 

The northern part of the Hundred of East, including 
Kingston Down, forms a third large division of granite. 

The great granite field of the west, extends over Gwen- 
nap, Redruth, Illogan, southwards to Budock and Constan- 
tine, and westwards to the Land's End, interrupted with 
felspar, porphyry, and trap or greenstone. 



D2 



76 NATURAL GEOGRAPHY 

IV.— MINERALS OF CORNWALL. 



When it is supposed that land contains minerals, either 
from the discovery of fragments of ore on its surface, from 
burning the soil, from a metallic taste in the springs, or from 
other peculiar signs, a company is formed, and permission is 
bought of the owner of the soil to make drifts or horizontal 
trenches across the country in hope to cut the lode. The 
lode is a ridge of rock lying over the vein of ore. When a 
lode is cut, a shaft or deep perpendicular pit is sunk, and a 
whim or large windlass is fixed for the drawing up the iron 
bucket, called the kibble. After the shaft has reached the 
depth of a few fathoms, the water begins to rise, and a steam 
engine is erected for pumping it to the surface, unless the 
mine lies on a hill, when a tunnel is cut from the shaft, and the 
water passes off into the valley. The engines in Cornwall 
are the most powerful in the world, very costly in their 
erection, and very expensive in operation, in consequence 
of their vast consumption of coal. The men descend the 
shaft by ladders ; in some few mines there is a man-engine 
for conveying the workmen up and down. There is no in- 
flammable gas generated in any of the Cornish mines, but 
the air at great depths becomes very impure, and the 
heat is so great that the men work naked. They remain 
under ground eight hours, and during that time a man has 
frequently lost five or six pounds in weight by perspiration. 
The average age of the miner is 31 years; of agricultural 
labourers, who work double the time, 47 years. 

The ore is blown out of the rock with gunpowder, drawn 
to the surface, broken and picked by girls, pounded in 
stamping-mills, washed by boys, and sent to the smelting- 
house ; little ore is smelted in the county, in consequence of 
the expense of coal. 

The owner of the soil receives a portion of the ore raised, 
varying from a sixth to a fifteenth, called "the lord's dish." 



OF CORNWALL, 77 

The price of ores differs according to their richness ; some 
ores returning £20 a ton, some only £2. 

Large fortunes have been made and lost by mining. 
Polgooth mine made a profit of £20,000 a year for many 
years ; Polberrow cleared £40,000, and some mines more ; 
on the other hand immense sums have been spent on mines 
that have never returned a single farthing. 

Gold. — Gold has been found in Cornwall, but in very 
small quantities, in stream-works, and in the beds of rivers ; 
it appears in grains from the size of fine sand to that of a 
pea. The streamers collect it in quills. In a wash of tin, at 
Castle Park, near Lostwithiel, " certain glorious corns " of 
gold were taken out of a heap ; William Glynn, of Glynn, had 
a large seal-ring made of " hopps " of gold that came out of 
the river Fowey, below his house. 

Silver. — Silver has been discovered in large quantities 
in combination with lead, and near copper lodes. Some 
mines have yielded native silver, as the Herland copper mine 
in Gwinear. The Garras lead mine gave 100 ounces of silver 
in a ton of ore. There are silver-lead mines in Calstock 
parish ; the cup presented to the Duke of Cornwall in 1812, 
was made out of the metal raised in these mines. 

Copper. — Copper was formerly cast aside as useless in 
working for tin. No copper mines were worked much earlier 
than 1690. It is very abundant in many parts of the county, 
and is found as virgin copper, in plates, in drops, in grains, 
in powder, and in masses of several pounds weight. It is 
smelted in Wales. In tin mines at a certain depth, tin wears 
out and leaves lodes of copper. Copper and tin lodes run 
east and west ; lead lodes run nearly north and south. The 
parishes in which copper is found are Kenwyn, Kea, Wendron, 
St. Agnes, Illogan, Gwennap, Stythians, Camborne, St. 
Blazey, St Cleer, and many others. 

Iron.— Iron is also very abundant in Cornwall, but it 
has been little worked. Roman coins have been found in the 
iron works. Mundic is sulphuret of iron ; it is found in 



78 NATURAL GEOGRAPHY 

large bodies with coppe** and iron ; sulphur, arsenic, an<2 
vitriol are extracted from it. 

Tin. — The metal for which Cornwall has been famous in 
so many ages is stannum or tin. It is found in mines, among 
the sands of rivers, and on the sea-shore, and is procured by 
washing of earths. The stream- work tin is much purer and 
fetches a much higher price than mine tin. When smelted 
and moulded into blocks, it used to be carried to one of the 
coinage towns, Liskeard, Lostwithiel, Truro, Helst.cne, or 
Penzance, to be assayed by the stannary officers. The block 
was coined or quoined, that is, a corner (Norman-French 
quoin) was cut off, and if found pure, was stamped with the 
duchy seal. By the old stannary law, if any man adulterated 
the metal, three spoonfuls of melted tin were poured down 
his throat. Every hundred weight of tin paid a duty of four 
shillings to the Duke, but in 1838, the old custom of coining 
was abolished, and a compensation in lieu of dues given to 
the duchy. 

The highlands in the east, particularly Kingston Down, 
were famous in early times for tin ; the principal tin mines 
lie in Perranzabuloe, Kenwyn, Kea, Redruth, the peninsula cf 
Penwith, St. Austle, and others ; some are carried under the 
sea. There are stream-works in Lanlivery, St. Stephens, and 
many other parts, but the most extensive are at Carnon, be- 
tween Truro and Penryn. In these works human remains 
have been found in mud and sand, among wood, leaves, nuts, 
and bones of animals. Carelazs is an open mine near St. 
Austle, which has been worked for many hundred years. 

The Phoenicians fetched tin from Cornwall many centu- 
ries be-fore our Saviour's birth : it is mentioned in the book 
of Numbers. It is found in Spain and Portugal, and many 
other parts, but in less quantities than in Cornwall. In the 
time of Alexander it had found its way into Africa, Arabia* 
and India ; it was shipped in Britain at Ictis, and brought 
overland to Marseilles, and thence to Rome, where it was 
more highly valued than gold. 



H^» 



OF CORNWALL. 79 

The Saxons seem to have little worked the mines, but 
under the Normans the Jews made of them a profitable trade. 
When Richard, King of the Romans, became Earl of Corn- 
wall, he greatly encouraged the working of the mines, and 
granted a charter, which was the origin of the stannary laws. 
The tinners were by this charter exempt from all jurisdiction 
except that of the stannary courts, save in such cases as 
might affect lands, life, or limb. No laws were to be enacted 
but by the twenty- four stannators, chosen from the four stan- 
nary districts, Foymore, Blackmore, Tywarnhaile, and Pen- 
with with Kirrier ; the corporators of Launceston chose the 
stannators for Foymore ; those of Lostwithiel for Blackmore ; 
those of Truro for Tywarnhaile ; and those of Helston for 
Penwith with Kirrier. The vice-warden's court is held once 
a month : the appeal lies to the Duke or Queen in council ; 
the stannary parliament sits at Truro : the stannary prison 
till lately was at Lostwithiel. But the stannary laws have 
much fallen into disuse, and their powers have been super- 
seded by the decrees of the higher' courts. The Lord "War- 
den of the stannaries is His Royal Highness Prince Albert. 

Lead. — Lead mines have been long worked near Hel- 
ston, and on a small scale in St. Issey, St. Minver, Endellion, 
and other parishes. In Menheniot and Calstock silver-lead 
mines of valuable character have been lately discovered. 

Calamine, which in combination with copper makes 
brass, is very abundant. Mercury and platina have not been 
found in Cornwall. The largest mine of antimony was in 
Endellion : it is used for making types, and in medicine. 
Cobalt and bismuth have been discovered in many places., 
and manganese near Launceston and on Tregoss Moors. 

Cornish diamonds are clear crystals, found in mines; 
some colourless, others yellow, green, purple, and black, and 
hard enough to cut glass, to make seals, and to bear engra- 
ving. 

Cornish pebbles are fine : black and yellow jaspers are 
common : agates and opal ars more rare. Of gems, rubies, 



80 NATURAL GEOGRAPHY 

amethysts, topazes, and chrysolites have been found. There 
are some pearls in the streams in mussels and oysters, of little 
value ; yet Suetonius tells us that Caesar invaded Britain, in- 
cited by hope of British pearls, large specimens of which he 
used to poise in his palm in the forum at Rome. 

Freestone, nearly as good as Portland stone, is dug in 
Lewannick, Crantock, and St. Columb. The Pentuan quarries, 
near St. Austle, yield a fine sandstone of a milky colour. 
There is good stone in Illogan, and on Goonhilly Downs, 
and in Warbstow a kind that will bear the fire. 

Of coarse gritstone, granite or moorstone abounds 
throughout the county : there are five sorts, white, dove- 
coloured, yellow, red, and black: the white is found in Con- 
stantine and Stythians ; red and black in Ludgvan ; and yel- 
low in the Tregoning quarries. Many sorts of granite are of 
very fine grain, hard, good to cut, and bear a bright polish. 

Loadstone was discovered in a mine near Penryn. In a 
copper mine near Redruth is dug a kind of quartz, called 
swimming-stones, which floats on water. Very little chalk 
has been found in Cornwall, and that of coarse grit in St. 
Cleer. There is little limestone in the county ; some in 
Veryan of an inferior sort ; some in Talland Bay, which is 
burnt on the spot. Coal and culm have not been discovered 
in any part of Cornwall. Asbestos in small portions is seen 
in Menheniot, St. Cleer, and elsewhere. Talc of various 
kinds has been met with. Marl is found in Gwinear, Feock, 
Mullion, and Veryan. Slate of very best character, and in 
plates of large size, is quarried in St. Teath ; inferior sorts 
are found wherever schist abounds. 

Decomposed granite, called china-clay, is produced in 
large quantities near St. Austle : it is much used in the manu- 
facture of china and porcelain. Steatite, a greasy clay, is 
the substance of the soap-rock of the Lizard ; it is found 
also at Clicker Tor. The Lizard supplies different sorts of 
this clay, from which several services of china have been 
made for the royal table ; it is used in making glass* resists 



OP CORNWALL. 81 

heat, and will take spots out of silk and cloth. Other clays 
of Cornwall are pipeclay ; Lelant clay, for ovens ; Ludgvan 
clay, for assaying ; and Truro clay, which stands the fiercest 
t re, and is used for making crucibles. 

The sea-sand on the north coast is of a brown red colour ; 
on the west, white ; on the south, grey : it is mixed with sea- 
weed and used for manure. 



V.— RIVERS OF CORNWALL. 



The watershed of Cornwall has a southern drainage, 
and by far the greater part of the rivers flow into the English 
Channel. 

The Tamar rises at Wooley Barrows, on the summit of 
a moor in the parish of Moorwinstow, about three miles 
from the sea coast. It flows southward, and after a course of 
ten miles gives name to the village and parish of North Tam- 
erton (Tamar-town), and passing St. Stephens receives the 
river Werrington, and spreads into a fine lake in Werrington 
Park. Further on it receives the Attery, and passes under 
Poulston, Greyston, and New Bridges, to the Weir Head. 
Here it becomes navigable, and flowing by Calstock in 
an easternly direction, passes Cotehele and Pentillie, and 
just above Saltash passage receives the Tavy from Devon. 
Below Saltash, the Lynher from the west falls into it, and 
this part of the river, between Saltash and Devonport, being 
about four miles long, and half a mile broad, is called Ha- 
moaze, in which ships of war lie in ordinary. It falls into 
Plymouth Harbour between Drake's Island and Mount Edg- 
cumbe. The scenery on the banks of the Tamar is very 
beautiful. This river runs a course of forty miles. 

The boundary line of Devon and Cornwall passes through 
the centre cf Hamate; and in the case of some criminal 
d 5 



82 NATURAL GEOGRAPHY 

offences on board ships, Cornish juries have been discharged, 
because it has been proved that the vessel swung on the 
Devon side, and thus removed the cause out of their juris- 
diction. The borough of Saltash has jurisdiction over the 
whole of Hamoaze, and of the river as far up as Calstock. 

The Fowey rises in Foy-Fenton, at the foot of Brown- 
willy, in the parish of St. Breward, flows southward through 
the moorlands between St. Neot and St. Cleer, and is here 
called the Dranes ; thence westernly by Glynn, southernly 
under Resprin Bridge, by Lanhydrock and Restormel Castle ; 
it meets the tide and becomes navigable at Lostwithiel, and 
thence flows six miles, through beautiful scenery, into the sea 
at Fowey. It is thirty miles long. 

The Fal divides the county into almost two equal parts. 
It rises at Fenton-Fal, near Hensburrow, in the parish of 
Roche, and gathering up many small streams from the moors, 
passes by Grampound, through the vale of Creed, leaving 
Tregoney on its left bank (to which town it was formerly 
navigable) ; then meeting the tide at Ruan, passes Tregoth- 
nan, joins Truro and St. Clement's creeks, and separating 
Mylor and St. Just, forms Carrig Road, and expands into 
Falmouth Harbour. It is nineteen and a half miles long, 
four of which are tidal. 

The Lynher rises near Five Lanes, in Alternon, flows 
through Trebartha, where it forms a beautiful cascade, be- 
tween Callington and St. Ive, between Pillaton and Landrake, 
and under Nottar Bridge ; near Ince Castle it is joined by 
the Tidy, and after a course of twenty-seven miles, falls into 
Hamoaze below Saltash. Pearls are found in this river. 

The Camel or Alan, the largest river on the north coast, 
has two sources ; one two miles north of Camelford, near 
Worthyvale, the other under Rough tor. These join at Kea 
Bridge, and the river flows southernly by Lanteglos and 
Advent, with much beautiful scenery of wood and vale ; by 
Lavethan, Colquite, and Slade; and in Egloshayle is met by 
the tide. A mile further west it passes Wadebridge, and 



OF CORNWALL. 83 

eight miles lower falls into Padstow Haven. Its whole length 
is twenty-nine miles. 

The Inny rises in Alternon, and flows nineteen miles, by 
South Petherwin, Lezant, Stokeclimsland, and Carthamartha, 
into the Tamar at Innysfoct. It atounds with excellent 
trout. 

The Tidy rises at the foot of Caradon, and passing be-^ 
tween Menheniot and St. Ive and Quethiock, becomes tidal 
at Tidiford ; whence, flowing by Port Eliot and St. German's 
Quay, it falls into the Lynher at Ince Point. 

The Seaton has its source in St. Cleer, on the west side 
of Caradon, and flows through Menheniot by Coldrenick 
and Catchfrench, and separating St. Germans from Morval 
and St. Martins, falls into the sea at Seaton. The deposits 
of sand brought down by this stream from the Caradon cop- 
per mines, have destroyed hundreds of acres of land at its 
mouth. 

The Looe rises at Treworgy in St. Cleer, and flows south 
of Liskeard, through a lovely vale, between Morval and 
Duloe ; it becomes navigable at Sandplace, separates St. 
Martins and Talland, and falls into the English Channel 
between East and West Looe. 

The Duloe rises in St. Pinnock, passes through the deep 
vales of Trelawne, by Trenant into the Looe. 

St. Austle rises at Hensburrow, joins the Menacuddle 
Vale stream, and falls into the sea near Pentuan. 

The Gweek rises at Buttris, north-west from Wendron, 
and flowing nine and a half miles, falls into the English 
Channel at Mawnan. 

The Hayle is formed of four brooks, uniting at Relub- 
bus, near St. Hilary; it flows northwards by St. Earth to 
Hayle tov/n, becomes navigable there, and falls into St. Ives 
Bay. 

The G an nel rises in Newlyn, and flows through Tremper 
valley into the sea at Gannel Porth. 

The Hel rises at Kingman's Barrow, near Carnmenellis, 



84 NATURAL GEOGRAPHT 

and runs a coarse of ten miles, passing Helston and falling 
into Loe Pool. It is prevented from joining the sea by the 
Loe Bar. 

The Ladock rises in St. Enoder, flows by Tresillian, is 
eleven miles long, and falls into the Fal. 

There is generally an abundance of water in the county, 
except where mines have cut off the springs, and made it a 
precious thing. In the large mining parishes of the west, 
people are dependent on rain water, and when this fails, must 
go two or three miles for a supply. Yet a spring will some- 
times continue to flow freely in the immediate neighbourhood 
of mines : there is a strong spring between the deep mines 
of South and West Caradon. 



VI.— LAKES OF CORNWALL. 



Dozmary Pool is a tarn or mountain-lake, 890 feet 
above the sea level, in the north part of the moors of St. 
Neot. From the lifeless character of its waters it has been 
called the Dead Sea of Cornwall. It is about a mile round, 
nearly circular, and is from twelve to eighteen feet deep. 
This, as the fable runs, is the scene of Tregeagle's punish- 
ment ; he is doomed to dip out Dozmary Pool with a limpet 
shell. Other idle tales of this dreaded pool are that it is 
bottomless ; that it ebbs and flows with the tide ; that there 
is a whirlpool in the middle, which swallows faggots and dis- 
gorges them into the sea at Fowey. It contains eels and 
large trout. 

Loe Pool lies in a vale between Sithney, Wendron, and 
Gunwalloe : it is a mile and a quarter long, and an eighth of 
a mile broad, and about twenty-six feet deep at the deepest. 
It is separated from the sea by a broad bar of pebbles, shingle, 
and sand. In winter, when the valley is flooded as far a* 



OF CORNWALL. 85 

Helston, and the mills cannot work, the Mayor of Helston 
presents two leathern purses, containing three halfpence each, 
to the lord of Penrose (to whom the pool belongs), and begs 
permission to cut the bar ; this granted, the bar is cut, and 
the water rushes out ; and it is said that the sea is discoloured 
by the cutting of Loe Bar as far as Scilly. Good eels are 
found in it, and fine-flavoured trout. 

Swan Pool, two miles south of Falmouth, is so called 
from the swans which the Killigrews kept there. It is a 
quarter of a mile broad, and half a mile long, and is separ- 
ated from the sea by a bar of pebbles, over which the waves 
break in a tempest. 



VII.— HILLS OF CORNWALL. 



Brownwilly, in Simonward, is the highest peak of that 
ridge of granite hills which crosses the county from east to 
west. It lies in the parish of St Breward, south-east of 
Camelford, and rises to the height of 1368 feet above the sea 
level. On its sides lie vast masses of broken rock, rounded 
by the action of the wind and rain, with large and unequally 
hollowed basons. Roughtor joins Brownwilly on the north- 
ern side, and at their base is the spring of the Dranes river, 
or Fowey, running southward. On the extreme summit the 
Ordnance Surveyors raised a beacon of loose stones ; and 
it is said that from hence they discerned, with powerful 
glasses, the peaks of Snowdon : it commands views over 
all the moors, and of the northern coast. 

Roughtor is the second highest hill in the county, being 
only 72 feet lower than Brownwilly ; on its top are the ruins 
of a chapel, dedicated to St. Michael, and from this point 
may be seen Brownwilly, Yes Tor, and Dunkery Beacon,, 
the three highest hills in Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset* 
lying in a triangle. 

Kilmar, in Northill, is next in height. 



NATURAL GEOGRAPHY 

Caradon is I2CS feet in height; its southern slope is in 
St. Cleer, the remainder in Linkinhorne. Its upper side is 
a brge table-land, on which King Charles mustered his army, 
and the whole outline of the hill is very regular ; it is 
covered with grass, short furze, and a few fine heaths. Val- 
uable copper mines are worked at its south-western base ; 
on the western brow are several cairns ; on the northern side 
a rough stone entrenchment, and a beacon for the Trigono- 
metrical Survey. The little river Tidy flows from its eastern 
slope, the Seaton from the western. 

Kit Hill is the highest part of Hingston Down ; and 
here, in old time, the tinners of Cornwall and Devon held 
their parliament. From the windmill on the top may be seen 
the towns of Launceston, Callington, Liskeard, Saltash, and 
Devonport. 

The hills of Cornwall of a thousand, and above a thou- 
sand feet in height, are, 

Feet. 

Brownwilly, in Sim onward 1368 

Roughtor, N.W. of Brownwilly 1296 

Omar, in Northill 1277 

Caradon, in Linkinhorne 1208 

Sharpitor, S. of Kilmar 1200 

Neweltor, W. of Sharpitor 1 177 

Brey Down, S. of St. Clether 1125 

Mennaclew Down, St. Cleer 1124 

Tobertor, in Alternon 1122 

Browngilly, in St. Neot 1100 

Kit Hill, near Callington 1067 

Garrah, S.W. of Brownwilly 1060 

Hensburrow, in Roche 1034 

Cadon Barrow, near Camelford 1011 

Titch Beacon, N. of Davidstow 1010 

Brocka Barrow, in Northill 1000 

From Ridge Hill, near Trebartha, the whole line of the 



OF CORNWALL. 5/ 

eastern boundary may be traced from Maker to Moorwin- 
stow, and on to Lundy Island : from Kensburrow the south 
coast may be followed from the Rame nearly to the Lizard : 
from St. Agnes Beacon all the north coast is open as far 
south as Cape Cornwall ; and from Chapel Carn Brea, near 
the Land's End, the Isles of Scilly may be seen, with the 
lighthouses en St. Agnes, the Longships, the Lizard, and 
Trevose Head. 

The highest land in the west is Crowan Beacon. Carn- 
menelh's commands all Meneage; and Tregoney Hill all the 
coast of the east and west sides of Mount's Bay. 

St. Agnes Beacon is of a singular geological character: 
its upper soil is vegetable mould ; underneath this is a layer 
of rubble ; then succeed in strata, smooth pebbles, mixed 
with sea-sand ; stones containing grains of tin ; spar, stones, 
and earth ; and lastly granite. 



VIII.— PLANTS OF CORNWALL. 



Myrtles, verbenas, jessamines, fuchsias, and geraniums, 
remain in the open air all the winter, and grow to a great 
height. The tamarisk -willow grows freely by the sea. forms 
a good hedge, bears cutting well, but cannot endure the frost. 

Peaches and nectarines, figs, currants, gooseberries, 
apples of many excellent sorts, and pears, grew well : wal- 
nuts and apricots do not prosper : grapes will not ripen in 
the open air. The mulberry flourishes in the west. 

In consequence of the high winds the coast of Cornwall 
is bare ; timber trees are few and small, except in valleys and 
very sheltered places ; yet from old accounts Cornwall must 
once have been a well-wocded country. The trees are pine- 
aster ; spruce, Scotch, and silver firs ; Dutch, Cornish, and 
wych elms ; sycamore ; beech ; birch ; oak ; ash ; Spanish 



88 NATURAL GEOGRAPHY 

and horse chestnuts; lime ; and plane. The plane tree was 
brought into Cornwall in 1723, by Sir John St. Aubyn of 
Clowance. 

The beautiful pink heath, erica vagans, is strictly limited 
in its growth on the serpentine ; being found only at the 
Lizard, and on the serpentine rock in Menheniot, and no- 
where else in England. Large purple and white heaths grow 
in profusion at the Land's End. 

Trees of various kinds and sizes are found at great 
depths under the earth : near the Land's End miners found 
the trunk of an oak, twelve feet in diameter ; the impression 
of its leaves and branches was left in the soil, and beside it 
was the skeleton of a deer. Many similar specimens have 
been found in other parts. In some lakes, bogs, and harbours, 
and on the sea-coast, whole forests have been discovered, 
standing upright as they grew. On the 10th of January, 
1757, after the waters in Mount's Bay had been drawn off 
the shore by a violent storm and sodden ebb-tide, large oaks 
and other trees were seen lying in great numbers, embedded 
in the sands. 



IX.— ANIMALS OF CORNWALL. 



The horses in common use are small, and inferior to 
those of other counties of England, but sure-footed, and well 
calculated for hill travelling. A breed once reared on the 
Goonhilly Downs is thought to have been native. Mules 
used to be employed in large numbers in the mining districts 
for the conveyance of ore : they are not now much used. 

The cattle are the Cornish, North Devon, South Devon, 
Jersey, and Guernsey. Very little cheese is made in Corn- 
wall, nor is butter ever made from raw cream. 

Goats are kept tame, and they run wild on the hills and 



OP CORNWALL. 89 

on the cliffs of the coast ; their kids are fatted for the mar- 
kets. 

Red deer abounded in the old forests of the county. 
Fallow deer are kept in gentlemen's parks. 

The sheep of Cornwall were formerly very small, having 
coarse, wiry wool, like hair. A few of them still exist on 
the moors, cropping a short sweet grass, and devouring small 
6nails, which fatten them rapidly : their mutton is of prime 
character. 

Badgers and otters are numerous ; otters are found both 
in fresh and salt water. Foxes, hares, and rabbits are com- 
mon in the more cultivated parts. Some packs of hounds 
are kept in the middle and east of the county. 

The birds of Cornwall are the kite, and all sorts of 
hawks, thrush (or greybird), blackbird, lark, linnet, finch, 
owls, woodpecker, kingfisher, starling, redwing, wood-pigeon, 
ouzel, oriole, bunting, redstart, martin, sandpiper, golden 
plover in large flocks, woodcock, snipe, partridge, pheasant, 
quail, landrail, raven, rook, crow, crossbill, hoopoe, magpie, 
lapwing, golden crested wren, and many others. Woodcocks' 
eggs have been found and hatched by artificial heat: the 
young of the snipe has been taken on Bodmin downs. The 
bee-eater, a very rare bird in Cornwall, was shot in Madron 
parish, and an eagle in Lanteglcs by Fowey. Nightingales 
are never found in Cornwall ; but the reed-warbler, called 
the Cornish nightingale, sings sweetly all the night. The 
chough is a native of Cornwall, and is rarely seen elsewhere 
in England ; it is of the size, shape, and colour of the crow, 
with legs, feet, and bill red, and it builds in steep cliffs and 
in rabbits' burrows. Its character is thus libelled by Cam- 
den :— " In the rocks along the coast breeds the Pyrrho corax* 
a crow with red bill and red feet, which is therefore not pecu- 
liar to the Alps as Pliny imagined ; this bird is found by the 
inhabitants to be an incendiary, and to be fond of theft, for 
it has been known to set houses on fire privately, and to steal 
pieces of money ". The chough is borne in heraldry. The 



SO NATURAL GEOGRAPHY 

waterbirds are gulls, grebe, puffin, cormorant, stormy petrel, 
wild swans, geese, and ducks, heron, widgeon, teal, gannet. 
curlew, and others. 

Dead whales of large size have been cast up on the sands, 
or found floating near the coast and towed in. The basking 
shark, porbeagle, fin-fish, grampus, porpoise, thresher, and 
many other large fish, frequent these seas. Of edible fish 
are caught the turbot, sole, plaice, mullet, whiting, conger, 
and many others. Lobsters, crabs, and oysters, are taken in 
srreat abundance for the large towns. Shrimps are found in 
Mount's Bay, and sparingly along the coast. Seals are com- 
mon in caves on unfrequented coasts, and some few turtles 
have been caught. Sea-nettles, sea-anemones, and many 
other zoophytes are seen at low tides : star-fish and the back- 
bone of the cuttle-fish are left on the sands : coral is some- 
times found, and sponge fixed to the rocks. The varieties of 
algae, or sea- weed, on the south-western shore are very beau- 
tiful. Pilchards and mackarel are caught in countless num- 
bers along the south and west coasts. The pilchard for ages 
has been found only on the coast of Cornwall : it appears in 
vast shoals from July to November, sometimes in greater 
bodies on the north, sometimes on the west. They are taken 
in a large stop-net, called a seine or sean, and when salted 
and pressed, are exported by the name of fromades to France, 
Spain, and Italy, for consumption in Lent. As many as 
sixty thousand hogsheads have been taken throughout the 
county in one season, and they form a chief food of its own 
people, but are of a rank and unpleasant taste to strangers. 
The chief pilchard fisheries are at Cawsand, Looe, Polpeno, 
Fowey, Mevagissey, Falmouth, Penzance, St. Ives, and Port 
Isaac. Mackarel are taken in a sean, and often in such 
abundance that they are sold sixty for a shilling : being a 
very perishable fish, in hot weather whole boat loads are 
spoiled, and sold for manure. The herring fishery is princi- 
pally carried on at St. Ives, and up the northern coast: this 
jtish does not pass the Land's End in any considerable num- 



«P CORNWALL. SI 

hers ; seme are taken along the south-west coast in drift- 
nets. 

Of fresh- water fish there are small trout in those moun- 
tain streams which are not poisoned by mine water ; in the 
Alan a grey trout with red flesh ; in the Fowey a black trout 
of large size, sometimes two feet long, and the Bartholomew 
trout, taken in August ; and in Loe Pool a trout of fine fla- 
vour, with back purple and belly a bright peach colour. 
Large salmon are caught in the Tamar, Camel, and Fowey ; 
none in the Fal. The fish of the inland counties of England, 
as pike, perch, carp, &c, are rare, except in stocked ponds. 

Adders, snakes, and slow-worms, are very plentiful in 
Cornwall. 

The shells of this coast are inferior, though occasion- 
ally some very beautiful sorts are met with : they are the 
limpet, mussel, razor shell, ventletrap, spotted cowries or 
nuns, scallop, and others. Fossil shells are rare, owing to 
the primitive character of the rocks. 



©art V. 
PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY OF CORNWALL. 



I. HUNDRED OF EAST. 

II. HUNDRED OF WEST. 

III. HUNDRED OF ST1UTTON. 

IV. HUNDRED OF TRIGG. 

V. HUNDRED OF LESNEWTH. 

VI. HUNDRED OF POWDER. 

VII. HUNDRED OF PYDAR. 
VIII. HUNDRED OF KIRRIER. 

IX. HUNDRED OF PENWITH. 



IPart V. 



PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY OF CORNWALL. 



I.— HUNDRED OF EAST. 



This Hundred is so named from its position on the 
eastern side of the county, being washed in its whole length 
by the Tamar. It contains thirty-six parishes, which, for 
purposes of justice, are divided into three parts, North, 
Middle, and South Divisions, as under : 

NORTH DIVISION. 



Stokeclimsland. 

Linkmhorne. 

Northill. 

Lewanick. 

Lawhitton. 



Pillaton. 

St Dominick. 

St. Mellion. 



Maker, part of. 
St. Budeaux, 

part of. 
Rame. 
St. Johns. 



Lezant. 

Southpetherwin. 
Trewen. 
Launceston. 
St. Thomas. 

MIDDLE DIVISION. 



Qusthiock. 
M enheniot. 
St. Ive. 

SOUTH DIVISION. 

Anthony. 
St. Stephens. 
Sheviock. 
St. Germans. 



St. Stephens. 

Laneast,partof 

Tresmere. 

Egloskerry. 

Tremaine. 



Southill. 

Callington. 

Calstock. 



St. Erney. 
Landrake. 
Botesfleming. 
Landulph. 



This Hundred is generally fertile, well watered, and in 
good cultivation, and sends large supplies of corn and cattle 
to the markets of Plymouth and Devonport. It contains 

E 



96 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

rich mines of silver-lead and copper. Its fisheries are val- 
nable. 

The old name of the Hundred was Eastwellshire, said to 
be taken from Eastwell, or Markwell, a famous spring in the 
parish of St. Erney. 

NORTH DIVISION. 

Stokeclimsland. — This parish has the Inny on its 
north side, separating it from Lezant, and the Tamar on the 
east, over which is the Horsebridge. 

The church is a fine old building, the tower noble, con- 
taining eight bells. 

Carybullock, a range of hilly lands on the side of Cal- 
lington, was an ancient deerpark of the Dukes of Cornwall, 
destroyed with all the other deerparks of the Duchy by 
Henry VIII. 

Whiteford House is the seat of Sir John Call. 

Kingston or Hengiston Down is chiefly in this parish. 
Callington lies at its foot on the south-west. The summit is 
called Kit Hill. Many mines are worked in this neighbour- 
hood, and there is an old rhyme 

Hingston Down 

Well wrought, 
Is worth London Town 

Dear bought. 

On Kit Hill the parliament of tinners of Devon and 
Cornwall met every seven years. 

On Hingston Down was fought a great battle in 835, in 
which the Cornish, and their allies the Danes, were defeated 
with great slaughter, and by which Egbert's power was estab- 
lished in the west. 

Linkinhorne. — The greater part of Caradon, or Car- 
nadown, is in this parish ; after Brownwilly, Roughtor, 
and Kilmar, it is the highest hill in the county ; on its large 
table-land King Charles drew up his forces, on Friday, 
August 2, 1644, the day after he had entered Cornwall: and 



OF CORNWALL. $7 

here he was joined by Prince Maurice. The King went on 
the same day to Liskeard. 

Trefrys is spoken of as the seat of the great Lord Trc- 
fry ; the town and part of the church of Linkinhorne were 
built by Sir Henry Trecarrell of Trefrys, The church lies 
at the extreme north-eastern corner of the parish. 

From the heights of Caradon and Sharpitor, Lundy Isle 
on the north, the Eddystone Lighthouse on the south, the 
Deadman on the west, and Exmoor on the east-, are visible. 

Ancient gold relics and coins have been found near the 
€heesewring. In January, 1814, an old man and his wife, 
living in a cottage below the Cheesewring, were buried in a 
great fall of snow, but after three weeks were dug out alive, 
found lying in bed, uninjured", though icicles were hanging 
about the room. 

There is a railway to Liskeard for the conveyance of 
granite from the Cheesewring, and of ore from the Caradon 
copper mines. 

The Hurlers are said to be men turned into stones for 
hurling on Sunday. They are about four feet high, and 
stand upright in three circles, the largest circle in the centre, 
but many of them have been taken away for gate-posts. 

The Cheesewring stands on the side of a hill, the sum- 
mit of which is encircled by a large entrenchment of unhewn 
stones. It consists of eight stones piled one on the other, 
and the larger above the smaller ; it is thirty-two feet high, 
and was once a logan-stone. A part of the top stone is 
broken off ; there are two basons on it, and many in King 
Arthur's Slippers, and on the rocks around. It is thought 
to have been a British idol. 

On the south-side of the Cheesewring are the remains of 
Daniel Gumb's house, with his name and a mathematical 
diagram carved in the stone. He was a stone-cutter, and 
lived here in a cave under a great granite slab. 

The Ionic granite column, shewn outside the building of 
*he Great Exhibition, was cut from the Cheesewring quarry. 
e2 



$8 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

Northill. — Northill is bounded by Lewanick, St. Cleer, 
Linkinhorne, and Lezant. It is separated from Alternon by 
Roscelford water. 

The river Lynher flows through the parish of Northill, 
and forms a fine cascade in the grounds of Trebartha Hall. 

Kilmar Tor, Trewartha Tor, and Ridge Hill, are in this 
parish, and from their summits the whole of the eastern 
boundary of Cornwall may be traced from Moorwinstow to 
Maker. 

Trebartha Hall is the seat of the Rodd family. The 
scenery around it is grand. The lord of the manor of Tre- 
veniel, in this parish, claimed by immemorial right the ser- 
vice of holding the stirrup, whenever the Mayor of Launces- 
ton should mount his horse, on the occasion of the Duke 
coming into Cornwall. 

Manganese in large quantities has been found in Northill. 

Lewanick. — Lewanick lies between Alternon and South 
Petherwin. 

The little village of Hix-Mill is in three parishes; the 
western part in Lewanick, the northern and southern parts in 
Trewen and South Petherwin. 

At Pollyfont is a famous quarry of freestone worked in 
very early times : the greater part of the Saxon or Norman 
arches in the east of the county are built of this stone. It 
is made into basins, cups, candlesticks, chimney-pieces, &c, 
and will take a polish ; it resists intense heat. 

Limestone, which is very scarce in Cornwall, is found 
here, but so mixed with freestone that it cannot be burned. 

Trelask is the seat of the Archers. Fulbert Archer 
came to England with the Conqueror, and was present at 
the battle of Hastings. Robert Archer, his son, for his great 
learning, was made tutor to the Conqueror's youngest son, 
Prince Henry, surnamed Beau-Clerc. 

There was a manganese mine on tl^e barton of Trelask. 

The river Inny flows along the north and east parts of 



O? CORNWALL. 9$ 

the parish, and falls into the Tamar at Innysfoot: the Lynher 
bounds it south and west. 

There are three old crosses in this parish. The tower 
of the church is lofty and handsome, and the arch is richly 
carved. There are the remains of a ruined chapel at Polly- 
font. The manor of Pollyfont belongs to the rectory of 
Minster. 

Lawhitton. — Lawhitton has the Tamar on its eastern 
side, separating it from Devonshire. 

Poulston Bridge on the north, and Greston Bridge on 
the south, connect it with Devon. 

It is bounded by Lezant, Lewanick, Launceston, and 
St. Stephens. 

The manor of Lawhitton was given to the bishopric of 
Crediton by Edward the Elder in 905, and it has ever since 
remained in the hands of the Bishops of Exeter. 

The manor of Sheers -Barton, also in this parish, belongs 
to the see of Exeter. 

Near the church was a palace of the Bishop, now de- 
stroyed. 

The parish of Lawhitton is included in the borough of 
Launceston. 

Lezant. — Lezant lies between the river Tamar and the 
parishes of Linkinhorne, Northill, Lewanick, and South 
Petherwin. Its name is a corruption of Lansant, the holy 
church. 

The manor of Lawhitton, extending over the greater 
part of the parish, belongs to the see of Exeter. 

The hamlet of Trewarlet every other year belongs to 
South Petherwin. 

The Inny separates Lezant from Stokeclimsland, and 
falls into the Tamar at the village of Innysfoot. The river 
scenery, near the Carthamartha rocks, is extremely fine. 

At Trecarrel are the remains of a large mansion, begun 



100 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

by Sir John Trecarrel, "but never finished in consequence of 
the untimely death of his only son ; for he then spent his 
money in the more noble work of building churches. 

Ambrose Manaton, a brave cavalier, entertained King 
Charles and his suite here, on Thursday, August 1, 1644. The 
king slept one night at Trecarrel, and went on to Liskeard 
the next day. 

South Petherwin. — This parish is so ealled to dis- 
tinguish it from North Petherwin, in Devonshire. 

The manor belongs to the Bishops of Exeter. 

On an estate, called West Petherwin, limestone is quar^- 
ried and burnt. 

It is the mother church of Trewen, forming with It one 
benefice. 

Trewarlet, a hamlet situated between South Petherwin 
and Lezant, belongs to each of these parishes every other 
year. 

Trebursey was the seat of Sir J. Eliot, who died in the 
Tower in the reign of Charles I. 

Trewen.— Trewen is a very small parish, surrounded 1 
by Egloskerry, St. Thomas, South Petherwin, Lewanick, 
Alternon, and Laneast. 

The manor of Trewen belongs to the Bishops of Exeter. 

The church is attached to the viearage of South Peth- 



Launceston. — The town of Launeeston is one of the 
most ancient in the county : it was formerly called Dunheved. 

The parish is bounded by St. Thomas, St. Stephens* 
Lawhitton, and South Petherwin, and these five parishes form 
the new borough of Launeeston, and return one member to 
Parliament, in place of the four members formerly returned 
by Launeeston and Newport. 

The ancient castle of Launeeston is still standing, though 
m ruins : it is a building of singular interest* on account of 



OF CORNWALL. 101 

its great antiquity and the unique character of its architec- 
ture. It was probably a British fortress, as it bears no re- 
semblance to castles built by Romans, Saxons, Danes, or 
Normans. It rises from the banks of the little river Artery, 
on a commanding site, and must have been a fortress of im- 
mense strength. The keep was encircled by a triple wail, and 
was called Castle Terrible. Here George Fox, the father of 
the sect of the Quakers, was confined, as he says, " in a most 
filthy dungeon, called Doomsdale". It was fortified by the 
Royalists for King Charles, and lost and recovered several 
times. It is the property of the Duchy, but leased to the 
Duke of Northumberland. 

The church is a stately structure, built of granite, richly 
carved. It contains a memorial of Sir Hugh Piper, a gal- 
lant soldier and constable of the castle, who fought for the 
King at the siege of Plymouth, at Stratton, and at Lans- 
down, and was shot through the shoulder. 

When the privilege of sanctuary was abolished, except 
in churches and churchyards, Launceston was one of the 
eTght towns which were made sanctuaries for life, save for 
heinous crimes. In James I's reign the privilege of sanc- 
tuary was entirely abolished. 

The town was once surrounded by a strong wall, with 

three gates, two of which are yet standing. Under the statue 

of King Henry V, which once stood over the great gate, was 

this rhyme, 

" He that will doe aught for me, 

Let him love well Sir John Tirlawnee." 

The assizes were formerly held here only ; afterwards both at 

Launceston and at Bodmin ; now at Bodmin only. 

There is a grammar school, founded by Queen Elizabeth. 
There was formerly a hospital for lepers, near Poulston Bridge, 
dedicated to St. Leonard. 

A canal connects Launceston with the Tamar. A small 
woollen manufacture is carried on in the town. 

Sir Richard Grenville was committed by Prince Charles 
to Launceston castle, for refusing to obey Lord Hopton. 



102 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

St. Thomas. — This parish is so closely connected with 
Launceston that it has frequently been incorporated with it : 
it is within the new borough of Launceston. 

A small angle of this parish, forming part of the town 
of Launceston, has separate rates and officers, and is known 
by the name of the St. Thomas Street Hamlet. 

At Castlewood are the remains of an ancient fortification. 

The patronage of the perpetual curacy of St. Thomas is 
vested in the parishioners* 

St. Stephens by Launceston. — This parish lies be- 
tween the Tamar and Egloskerry, having Werrington on its 
north, and St. Thomas on its south side. 

There was a collegiate church in this parish, founded 
and endowed by the Earls of Cornwall, long before the Nor- 
man Conquest. It was given by Henry I to the cathedral of 
Exeter. Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, was a great benefactor 
to it, and used all his influence with King Stephen to get the 
bishop's see again removed into Cornwall, and that St Ste- 
phens should be the collegiate church. But Warlewast^ 
Bishop of Exeter, who happened to be at that time sojourn- 
ing in the next parish of Lawhitton, on his triennial visita- 
tion, at once suppressed the college, and in its stead founded 
a priory in St. Thomas. 

St. Stephens, under the name of Newport, returned two 
members to parliament from the reign of Edward VI to 1832. 
It now forms part of the borough of Launceston. 

The parish church was rebuilt partly at the expense of 
Charles Cheney, Lord Newhaven, M.P. for Newport. The 
patronage of this church lies with the inhabitants. 

George Warmington, of Camelford, gent, who died in 
1727, gave a tenement in Werrington parish to be held for 
ever for the repairs of the church. There are several other 
bequests to this parish for the benefit of the poor, and the 
support of a school; but some of them have been abused. 
The parish chest, containing the donation deeds of these 



OP CORNWALL. 103 

charities, was stolen many years ago from the church. It 
was found a long time after, empty, built up into the wall of 
one of the houses in the town. 

Laneast. — This parish lies partly in the Hundred of 
East, and partly in that of Lesnewth. The church and the 
greater part of the parish is in East Hundred 

It has Trenegloss and Tresmere on the north ; Eglos- 
kerry and Trewen on the east ; Alternon on the south ; and 
St Clether on the west. 

John Couche Adams, Esq., of St. John's College, Cam- 
bridge, the discoverer of the new planet, Neptune, was born 
in this parish. 

Tresmere. — Tresmere is a small parish lying between 
Tremaine and Laneast, Trenegloss and Egloskerry. The 
Devonshire parish of North Petherwin bounds it on the 
north-east. 

This parish is within the Duke of Northumberland's 
manor of Werrington. 

Egloskerry.— This parish is bounded by the Devon- 
shire parish of North Petherwin, and by St. Stephens, St. 
Thomas, Trewen, Laneast, and Tresmere. 

Egloskerry probably means the church of St. Cyriacus. 
Ft forms a perpetual curacy with Tremaine, though separated 
from it by Tresmere. 

This parish was taxed in Domesday Book under the 
name of Penhele, which is a large manor extending all over 
the parish. 

The estate of Tregear, which is partly in this parish 
and partly in Laneast, is charged with the payment of £10 
annually to the curate of Egloskerry. 

The Hon. John Speccot, who held the manor of Penhele, 

gave by his will twenty shillings a year to the labouring poor 

of every parish, in which he had lands producing a rent of 

£10 annually. The recipients of this charity were to be 

e 5 



104 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

those parishioners who were regular at church, and no bur- 
den to the parish. 

The incumbent of Egloskerry and Tremaine resides on 
an estate in North Petherwin, purchased with Queen Anne's 
Bounty, there being no parsonage in either Egloskerry or 
Tremaine. Paul Speccot, Esq., gave £700 to be put out at 
interest for the benefit of the incumbent. 

There is a mutilated stone figure in the north transept 
of the church. 

Tremaine. — Tremaine lies north of Tresmere and west 
of North Petherwin. It is a very small parish f and thinly 
peopled. 

The church of Tremaine, which is incorporated with 
Egloskerry, was consecrated in 1481, under the name of the 
chapel of Winwolaus, of Tremene. 

MIDDLE DIVISION. 

Pillaton. — Pentillie Castle in this parish was the seat 
of Sir James Tillie, who by his will ordered that his dead 
body should not be buried, but that it should be seated up- 
right in a chair, in a small room of a building, which he had 
prepared on a part of his grounds, called Mount Ararat. 

Opposite Pentillie, some years ago, a fireball descended, 
and glancing from the bank across the river struck a party 
fishing in a boat. All were more or less injured, and one 
killed. 

St. DominIck. — St. Dominick has the Tamar on the 
east. It is famous for cherries and other small fruits. 

At Halton was born Francis Rouse, member for Truro. 
a hot enemy to the Church and Crown, one of the assembly 
of divines, and made by Cromwell Provost of Eton. He 
was also one of Oliver's council, and a commissioner of Corn- 
wall for ousting scandalous ministers and ignorant school- 
masters ; and was called by the Cavaliers " The old illiterate 
Jew of Eton'% 



OF CORNWALL. 105 

St. Mellion. — St. Mellion lies between the Lynher and 
the Tamar ; it exports large quantities of strawberries, goose- 
berries, and cherries. 

At Crocadon House lived John de Trevisa, who, in the 
reign of Richard II, was Vicar of Berkeley, and translated 
the Bible into English. 

In the church is a monument of William Coryton, who 
was imprisoned by Charles I with Hampden and Eliot, and 
was one of those members who forced the Speaker to keep 
his seat. 

Quethiock. — This parish, anciently called Cruetheke, 
has St. Ive on the north, and St. Germans on the south ; the 
Lynher separates it from St. Mellion and Pillaton on the east, 
and the Tidy from Menheniot on the west. 

The tithes of this parish are equally divided between the 
Vicar of Quethiock and the Incumbent of Haccombe, near 
Newton Bushel, in Devon ; and there is a glebe belonging to 
each. 

Menheniot. — The name of this parish in old records 
is written Menhynytt. 

The vicarage is the most valuable benefice in the county, 
after St. Columb Major. The tithes are commuted for £1100. 
The barton of Coldrenick in St. Germans pays tithes to 
Menheniot. The patronage of the living is with the Dean 
and Chapter of Exeter ; but they must present one who is, 
or has been, a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. 

Among the Vicars were William of Wykham, Bishop 
of Winchester ; and Dr. Moreman, who first catechized his 
parishioners in the English language. 

Near Cartuther was the Maudlin, an ancient hospital 
for lepers. 

Clicker Tor is a mass of serpentine, of the same char- 
acter as the rocks of the Lizard ; accompanied by asbestos, 
and the beautiful heath that grows only on the serpentine, 



106 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

The silver-lead minet, lately discovered in this parish, 
have been worked with great profit. 

Pool for generations was the seat of the Trelawnys : 
the ruins of the mansion still remain. 

Merrymeet is a village, with a schoolroom licensed for 
divine service. 

The river Seaton flows through this parish, and the Tidy 
separates it from St. Ive and Quethiock. 

There is an ancient circular earthwork in the southern 
part of the parish, called Blackaton Rings. 

A copy of King Charles's letter, painted on wood, hangs, 
in the church. Bishop Trelawny was christened here. 

St. Ive. — This parish is always called St. Eve, prob- 
ably to prevent its being confounded with St. Ives. 

Trebigh belonged before the Conquest to Tavistock 
Abbey : it was given by Stephen, or Henry II, to the Knight* 
Hospitallers, who had a preceptory here, which, having been 
suppressed, was restored by Queen Mary. 

The tower of St. Ive church is crowned with twelve pin- 
nacles. 

The Lynher separates this parish from Callington, and 
the Tidy from St. Cleer and Menheniot. 

On the Callington side is Cadsonbury, a conical mount 
and ancient fortification. 

There are small copper mines in this parish. 

Southill. — Southill, anciently called St. Sampson's 
de Southill, is bounded on the west by the Lynher. 

It forms one benefice with, and is the mother-church to, 
Callington. 

Callington. — Callington, or Killington, anciently Cal- 
vington, was a borough disfranchised by the Reform Bill. 

St. Mary's chapel, which serves as the church of the 
town, is dependent on St. Sampson's, Southill, but with right 
of sepulture. It was built by Judge Asheton, whose effigy 
is engraven in brass in the chancel, There is also a large 






OP CORNWALL, 107 

alabaster monument of Lord Willoughby de Brooke. 

Dupath chapel, an old gothie oratory, or a baptizing 
well, lies about a mile from the town. 

King Arthur is said to have had a palace, and kept court 
in Callington. 

A large woollen trade was formerly carried on here. 

There are many mines in the neighbourhood. 

Calstock. — Calstock is a large parish on the Tamar, 
united to the Devonshire parish of Tavistock by the New 
Bridge. 

The Tamar is navigable for steam vessels from Devon- 
port to the Weir Head, a little below New Bridge ; the dis- 
tance is about twenty miles, and the scenery on both sides of 
the river very beautiful. The salmon fisheries, now greatly 
injured by the mine-water flowing into the river, have been 
held for centuries by the Edgcumbe family under the Duchy. 

Harewood, the most easternly point of the county, and 
almost insulated by the Tamar, is the seat of Sir W. S. Tre- 
lawny. 

Cotehele, formerly the chief residence of the family of 
Edgcumbe, and still in their possession, is a mansion " ancient, 
large, strong, and fayre ". It contains arms, armour, old 
furniture, and many interesting memorials of former days. 

The domestic chapel remains, still adorned with its old 
ecclesiastic furniture. In the vault beneath, the mother of 
Sir Richard Edgcumbe, the first baron in 1742, was buried 
alive in a trance : the knave of a sexton, the night after the 
funeral, broke open the coffin, with intent to steal the rings 
which adorned the body, when to his utter alarm, she who 
was thought to be dead opened her eyes and began to move ; 
thereat the thief fled amain, as though chased by the awak- 
ened spirit, leaving his lanthorn behind him to light the lady 
out of the vault. 

Charles II slept at Cotehele ; it was visited by George 
III, and by Queen Victoria. The chestnut trees in the woods 
are of vast size and great age. 



108 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

A small gothic chapel was built on a rock amidst the 
woods by Richard Edgcumbe, in grateful memorial of his 
deliverance at this spot ; for being a supporter of Henry, 
Earl of Richmond, and hotly pursued by the soldiers of King 
Richard III, he rah for his life, and hid himself among his 
own thick woods ; but being shut in on every side, the river 
before him, and his enemies behind him, and even now close 
at his heels> he put a stone in his cap, threw it into the water, 
and suddenly concealed himself under a ledge of projecting 
rock; they, hearing a splash, seeing his cap floating, and 
supposing that he had desperately drowned himself, gave over 
the chase, and suffered him to escape into Brittany. He was 
knighted by Henry VII on Bosworth field. 

Calstock is famous for black cherries, called mazzards; 
Mines of tin, copper, and silver- lead are worked in the parish. 

There is a chapel of ease at Gunnis Lake. 

In Calstock church is a monument to the Countess of 
Sandwich, the widow of the gallant Earl who lost his life in 
combat with the Dutch admiral, De Ruyter, in 1672. 

SOUTH DIVISION. 

Maker. — Maker, anciently called Macre, is situated on 
the west side of Plymouth Harbour, and is bounded by Rame, 
St. Johns, and Antony. 

Maker is divided between the counties of Devon and 
Cornwall. The Devonshire part, called the tithing of Vault- 
ersholme, is separated also into two divisions by the Cornish 
part; so that Dodbrook and Millbrook, though both forming 
one town and both in the same parish, are in different coun- 
ties, the former in Devon, the latter in Cornwall. The small 
angle detached from Vaultersholme, yet belonging to Devon, 
is called Mendennick. 

The parish church and Mount Edgcumbe belong to 
Devonshire. 

The situation of Mount Edgcumbe is beautiful in the 
extreme* The Duke de Medina Sidonia, who led the Span- 



OF CORNWALL. 109 

ish Armada past Plymouth, is said to have obtained a pro- 
mise of it from the Spanish monarch, as a reward for his 
conquest of England. An Italian traveller speaks of it as 
being, with the Chartreuse at Naples, the finest situation in 
the world. It is the seat of the Earls of Mount Edgcumbe, 
and came into the family in the time of Henry VIII. 

Kingsand, in the Devonshire part of Maker, forms a 
small town with Cawsand* which is in the Cornish parish of 
Rame. These two places are separated by a rivulet, which 
also divides the counties* The case is the same with Dod-» 
brook and Millbrook. 

Opposite this parish is the west end of the Plymouth 
Breakwater, on which is a lighthouse. It extends across the 
Sound for nearly a mile, and was constructed to prevent the 
rush of water into the harbour. 

The boundary line between Devon and Cornwall runs 
through Hamoaze in the centre of the Tamar, whose waters 
are deemed to extend to Penlee Point. 

St. NicholaSj or Drake's Island* belongs to Devon. 

Maker heights are famous for their extensive views. 

Napoleon Bonaparte was brought into Plymouth Har-^ 
bour in the Bellerophon, in 1815. 

St. BudeauXj or St. Bude. — Though this parish is 
situated on the east bank of the Tamar, a small part of it, a 
triangular spot opposite Saltash, called Little Ash Farm, is 
in Cornwall, in the manor of Trematon, and the parish of 
St. Stephens. 

This part of St. Budeaux, and the Vacy angle of North 
Tamerton, are the only parts of Cornwall situated on the 
Devonshire side of the Tamar. It is also the only part of 
Cornwall, except the Cornish part of Bridgerule, out of the 
Archdeaconry of Cornwall. 

Rame. — Rame lies on the west side of Plymouth Sound, 
being bounded also by Maker and St. Johns. 

It is the south-east extremity of the county of Corn- 



110 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

wall, and takes its name from the famous promontory in- 
cluded in it, called the Rame Head. 

Cawsand forms one town with Kingsand ; and some of 
the houses, built over the rivulet which forms the division, 
are both in the towns of Kingsand and Cawsand, in the 
parishes of Maker and Rame, and in the counties of Devon 
and Cornwall. Henry VII, when Earl of Richmond, is said 
to have landed here. A Spanish ship, in 1597, attempted to 
burn the town. 

The Rame is so called from its likeness to a ram's head. 
It is called Kf«8 Metuttov in the maps of the ancient 
Greek geographers. It projects boldly into the sea, and 
forms the outer boundary of Plymouth Harbour to the west- 
ward. Penlee Point is the western boundary of the Sound. 
There are the remains of an ancient chapel on its summit. 

The Rame Head is the nearest point of land to the Eddy- 
stone Rocks, which are about nine miles distant, W. by S. 
The Eddystone Rocks had been for ages the terror of sea- 
men : they lie nearly in a line with the Lizard and the Start, 
and exactly in the way of vessels making Plymouth Harbour 
from the west. They extend about a mile in length, with 
only one small rock appearing above the water, which is ten 
fathoms deep around them. 

A lighthouse, built of wood, was erected on this rock by 
Henry Winstanley, a famous shipwright, in 1699. It was 
swept away hxa tremendous storm, in November, 1703, and 
the architect perished in it. 

A second lighthouse was built on the same spot in 1 708, 
by John Rudyerd, partly of stone and partly of wood. This 
was burnt down in 1755. 

The lighthouse now standing on the Eddystone Rocks, 
was the work of the celebrated Smeaton, in 1757. It is 
built of granite and Portland stone, the lower stones being 
of vast size, and all dovetailed into the rock and into each 
other. It has resisted the most violent storms for nearly a 
hundred years, and remains to this day uninjured. Over the 



OP CORNWALL, JU 

door of the lantern is engraved in Latin, " Glory to God " ; 
and round the room, " Except the Lord build the house, 
they labour in vain that build it". The ball of the lantern 
is 90 feet from the rock, yet the waves dash thirty or forty 
feet above it. 

St. Johns. — This small parish is bounded on the south 
by Whitesand Bay. 

In Whitesand Bay is a cave called Sharrow Grotto, made 
by a Lieutenant Lugger during the first American war, who 
by his labour cured the gout. 

The church of St Johns is situated at the head of an 
inlet, called St. John's Lake. At low water the bodies of 
prisoners from the convict ship used to be buried here in the 
sand. 

Antony East. — This parish is called Antony St. Jacob, 
and Antony East, to distinguish it from St. Anthony in Rose- 
land, and St. Anthony in Meneage. 

The river Lynher washes it on the north, separating it 
from St. Stephens by Saltash ; and it extends to Whitesand 
Bay on the south. 

In the eastern angle of the parish, opposite Devonport, 
is the modern town of Torpoint, with a chapel of ease. The 
Tamar here is about a mile broad, and here is the great ferry 
from Devon into Cornwall. A steam-bridge crosses every 
quarter of an hour. 

Antony House is the seat of the ancient family of Carew, 
and was the residence of Richard Carew, the historian of 
Cornwall, a great, good, learned man, of whom Cornwall may 
well be proud. He held many posts of honour under Queen 
Elizabeth, and wrote the " Survey of Cornwall ". He died 
on November 6, 1620, at four o'clock in the afternoon, as he 
was saying his prayers in his study. The following verses 
were found in his pocket, and are inscribed on his monument 
in the church : 



112 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

Full thirteen fives of years I toiling have o'erpast, 

Aud in the fourteenth* weary, entered am at last. 

While rocks, sands, storms, and leaks, to take my bark away, 

By grief, troubles, sorrows, sickness, did essay : 

And yet arrived 1 am not at the port of death, 

The port to everlasting life that openeth. 

My time uncertain, Lord, long certain cannot be, 

"What's best to me's unknown, and only known to Thee. 

O by repeutance and amendment £rant that I, 

May still live in Thy fear, and in Thy favour die. 

On Whitsunday, 1640, during a great thunderstorm, a 
ball of fire passed through the church, scorching some per- 
sons, but not killing any. 

In the Lynher, opposite Antony House, is an islet called 
Beggar's Island, and a little above it the ferry called Antony 
Passage. 

Thanckes, the seat of Lord Graves, is in this parish. 

St. Stephens by Saltash. — This parish is so named 
to distinguish it from St. Stephens by Launceston, and St. 
Stephens in Brannel. It lies between the Tamar and the 
Lynher, and the scenery along the banks of these rivers is 
very beautiful. 

A small part of the parish, called Howton, is severed 
from the main part by Botesfleming. 

The town of Saltash, formerly called Asheburgh, is in 
this parish. It was one of the boroughs disfranchised in 
1832. The poet Waller, and Lord Clarendon, once were its 
representatives. Being an important port, and then the 
chief point of entrance into Cornwall, it was taken and re- 
taken many times during the wars of Charles. It was last 
captured by the Parliament in 1646. The town is built on a 
steep rock, sloping to the river: under the hill is a large 
well, bearing this inscription, " God increase this springe". 
It contains an ancient chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas. 

The parish church of St. Stephens is old, built of slate. 
A large coffin of lead, discovered in the church, was said to 
contain the remains of Duke Orgarius, father of Elfrida. 

Trematon Castle, on the Lynher, was till lately the most 



OF CORNWALL. 113 

entire of all the ancient castles of Cornwall, and is still a 
fine old building. It was held against the rebels by Sir 
Richard Grenville. It was granted by Edward III to the 
Black Prince and the Dukes of Cornwall for ever. Queen 
Elizabeth sold several of the manors held under Trematon 
Castle, but they were recovered for the dukedom in the next 
reign. 

There is a steam ferry over the Tamar from Saltash ; 
here also the line of the Cornwall Railway crosses the river. 
The Tamar at this point is about three quarters of a mile 
broad, and all its waters and the opposite shore, forming part 
of the Devonshire parish of St. Budeaux, are considered to 
belong to Cornwall. 

Sheviock. — The river Lynher bounds this parish on the 
north, and the sea on the south. 

At Port Wrinkle is an ancient pier in the centre of 
"VVhitesand Bay : it was destroyed by a storm in 1822. 

In this parish is Trethill, once belonging to the family 
of Wallis. A descendant of this family, Captain "Wallis, 
was the discoverer of Otaheite. 

The bay between Rame Head and Looe is recorded to 
have been once a valley filled with trees. 

The chancel of the church is new, and of a noble char- 
acter : the transept was a chapel of the Dawnays. Both the 
church, and the large old tithe barn adjoining, were built by 
them when lords of Sheviock. 

Crafthole, once a place of some importance, is now a 
small village. 

St. Germans. — The town of St. Germans is small; it 
formerly returned two members to parliament. The parish 
is fine and fertile, and one of the eight largest parishes in 
thecounty. 

It has the sea on the south, forming Whitesand Bay ; 
is separated from St. Martins and Morval by the Seaton ; 
and by the Tidy from Landrake and St. Erney. 



1-14 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

The parish receives its name from St. German, Bishop 
of Auxerre, in France, in 448. He was twice in England, 
and by his zealous efforts checked the heresy of Pelagius, 
hut it is not recorded that he ever visited Cornwall. At St. 
Germans was the early seat of the Bishops of Cornwall, 
removed hither from Bodmin by Athelstan, after his conquest 
of the county in 936 : Knute the Great added largely to its 
endowments, and united it with Crediton : Edward the Con- 
fessor removed the see to Exeter. The cathedral lands, wat- 
ered by the Tidy, are now possessed by the Earl of St. Ger- 
mans ; his residence, standing on the site of the priory, is 
called Port Eliot. It contains a portrait of John Hampden, 
said to be the only original one of that notorious person. 
" John Champernoune (of whom Master Eliot bought the 
priory lands) through his pleasant conceits won some good 
grace with our King Henry Eighth. Now when the golden 
shower of the dissolved abbey lands rayned well near into 
every gaper's mouth, some two or three gentlemen waited at 
a doore, where the King was to pass forth, with purpose to 
beg such a gift at his hands. Master Champernoune joined 
them here, and made inquisitive to know their suit, which 
knowledge they were nothing willing to impart to him. This 
while out comes the King : they kneel down ; so doth Mas- 
ter Champernoune : they prefer their petition ; the King 
grants : they render humble thanks ; so doth Master Cham- 
pernoune. Afterwards he requireth his share ; they deny : 
he appeals to the King; the King avoweth his equal mean- 
ing in the largesse : whereupon bis outwitted companions 
were fayne to allot him the priory of St. Germans for his 
partage" 

The church contains more remains of Saxon or Norman 
architecture than any other church in England. The chancel 
fell down two hundred years ago, and has never been rebuilt. 
There are two towers standing at the west end, and between 
them a magnificent Saxon or Norman arch. 

The villages of Hessenford and Tidiford, both having 
district churches, are in this parish. 



OF CORNWALL. 115 

Cdddenbeak was an episcopal palace, and is still a manor 
of the Bishops of Exeter, held by the Eliot family. 

Coldrenick, the seat of a branch of Trelawny, pa$S 
great tithes to the Vicar of Menheniot. 

Bake was the residence of Walter Moyle, a learned law- 
yer and politician in the reign of Charles II. 

Catchfrench is the property of the ancient family of 
Glanville. 

On Padderbury is a large and perfect Danish encamp- 
ment; there is a fine panoramic view from its top. 

Hucarius the Levite, a saintly scholar, lived at St. Ger- 
mans, and wrote many homilies, now lost. 

Sir John Eliot, born at Port Eliot, was a bitter enemy 
to the Duke of Buckingham, and the first King Charles's 
government : he was sent to the Tower, where he died in 1632. 

Sir Jonathan Trelawny, Bishop of Bristol, and one of 
the seven Bishops imprisoned by King James II, was born 
at Coldrenick. 

There is a free school in St. Germans' town, endowed 
with lands in Menheniot by Nicholas Honey. 

St. Erney. — St. Erney is a small parish closely con- 
nected with Landrake ; all the rates, except the church-rate, 
being levied on the same assessment. 

The Tidy separates it from St. Germans, and the Lynher 
from St. Stephens. 

The village of Markwell, on St. Germans' Lake, con- 
tains the remains of a chapel and an ancient well, of some 
celebrity. 

The parsonage is situated both in St. Erney and Land- 
rake, the rivulet which divides these parishes passing under it. 

Landrake. — Landrake, anciently called Larriek, is 
"bounded on the north-east by the river Lynher, which sepa- 
rates it from Botesneming and St. Stephens. 

Part of Tidiford is in this parish. 

The church has a fine and lofty tower, 



116 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

Sir Robert Jeffery left by will £520 to provide for the 
endowment of a free school, and to supply two shillings' 
worth of bread every week to the poor of Landrake and St. 
Erney. He was a native of this parish, of low parentage, 
but became a great East India merchant. 

The valuable manor of Landrake, one of the finest in 
the county of Cornwall, belongs to Lord Mount Edgcumbe. 

Landrake and St. Erney form one benefice, and are 
otherwise closely connected. 

Botesfleming. — The church of this small parish is 
said to have been built by Stephen le Fleming* in the time of 
Richard I. Probably it is from this family it takes its sin- 
gular name. In the church is a full-length effigy of a cru- 
sader. 

In 1689, Moditonham, in this parish, was the residence 
of John Waddon, Deputy Governor of Pendennis Castle : 
and here John, Earl of Bath, who was chief Governor both 
of Pendennis 'and Plymouth, treated with the commissioner 
of the Prince of Orange for the surrender of those important 
fortresses. 

Landulph.— Landulph is nearly surrounded by the 
waters of the Tamar. 

Cargreen is a village on the river's side, opposite the 
mouth of the Tavy. 

The old mansion-house of Clyfton, once the residence 
of the Courtenays, now the property of the Duchy, still stands 
in ruin, with a decayed chapel. 

A small brass tablet in Landulph church records the 
death of Theodore Palaeologus, at Clyfton, in 1636. He was 
a descendant of Thomas Palaeologus, brother of Constantine, 
^the eighth of that name, and last of the Christian Emperors 
of Greece. It was of this Thomas that Mahomet II, the 
conqueror of Constantinople, declared " that he had found 
many slaves in Peloponnesus, but no man save him". 



OF CORNWALL. 



117 



HUNDRED OF WEST. 



This Hundred is said to have formerly borne the name 
of Westwellshire, and to be so called, because it contains in 
its limits the whole course of the river Fowey, which rises at 
Foy's Fenton, or Westwell in St. Breward. 

The northern part extends over the moors, and is only 
partly in tillage ; the southern part is fertile, and in good 
cultivation. Copper and lead ore has been lately discovered 
in this district. Some tin is found in the stream-works. 

The Hundred of West contains nineteen parishes : 



Cardinham. 
Warleggan. 
St. Neot. 
St. Cleer. 
Liskeard. 
St. Pinnock. 
St. Keyne. 



Duloe. 

Morval. 

St. Martins. 

Talland. 

Lansalloes. 

Pelynt. 



Lanreath. 
Lanteglos. 
St. Veep. 
Boconnoc. 
Broadoak. 
St. Winnow. 



Cardinham. — This large parish lies between Bodmin 
and Warleggan. It was anciently called Cardinan. 

Of Cardinham castle, the ancient seat of the Lord 
Dinham, no trace is left ; the mount remains, covered with 
brushwood. 

Glynn is the property of Lord Vivian. 

The Fowey separates Cardinham from St. Winnow and 
Broadoak. 



Warleggan. — Warleggan is a singularly long and nar- 
row strip of land between Cardinham and St. Neot. 

The tower of the church was split asunder from top to 
bottom by lightning, in March, 1818. 

St. Neot. — This parish was anciently called Hamstoke ; 
it is the largest parish in the county with the exception of 
Alternon. 

The Archdeacon's court was formerly held in St. Neot. 



US PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

The old road from Bodmin to Plymouth passes through the 
town. 

The Fowey, in its upper course called the Dranes, is the 
eastern and southern boundary of St. Neot, separating it from 
St. Cleer, St. Pinnock, and Broadoak. The little river St. 
Neot, from the moors, passing through the village, divides the 
parish nearly in two equal parts and falls into the Fowey. 

Dozmary pool is on the moors in the north-east quarter 
of the parish. An old granite pillar, called Four Hole Cross, 
is nearly at the extreme northern boundary. 

Pengelly belonged to Sir William Moliers, slain at the 
siege of Orleans, in 1428. It was held by the service of 
providing a grey cloak for the Duke whenever he should 
come into Cornwall, and delivering it at Poulston Bridge, to 
the Lord of the Manor of Carbursow, whose office it was to 
attend the Duke with it during his stay in the county. 

The parish takes its name from St. Neot, an old-fashioned 
saint of great faith and holiness, but the truth of whose history 
is much intermixed with lying legends. As recorded by the 
monks, it runs thus ; St. Neot was brother of King Alfred ; 
he resigned the crown to his younger brother, and retired to 
Glastonbury, where he became a monk ; afterwards for greater 
reclusion, he removed into the wilds of Cornwall, and with 
his faithful attendant Barius lived seven years at the place 
ever afterwards called St. Neot, where also he built a monas- 
tery. Near the monastery was a spring of clear water for the 
saint's use, still called the well of St Neot, and never dry : 
in this well St. Neot perceived there were three little fishes, 
and an angel came and told him that he might take one, and 
only one of these fishes at any time for his eating, always 
leaving two in the well: and then, on his next visit, he 
should still find three fishes there, as at the first. Soon after 
this the saint fell ill, and his faithful Barius, not knowing 
the angel's command, went to the well and caught two fishes, 
one of which he fried and the other boiled, and brought to 
his master, hoping that the one or the other might suit his 



OP CORNWALL. 119 

sickly palate. St. Neot, in great alarm, bad him instantly 
carry them back to the well, and waited in nervous expecta- 
tion, till Barius returned with joy, and told him that the 
dear little fishes were swimming about in the water as lively 
and merry as though they had never been boiled or fried. 
" Now then," he said to Barius, "go thou, catch one fish : 
for I feel a desire to eat; " and the one fish being caught, 
dressed, and eaten, the saint got w-ell. Afterwards it befell 
that the monk's oxen were stolen, and there were no beasts to 
plough the land, when, marvellous to say, many stags from 
the neighbouring woodlands came of their own accord, and 
performed all the necessary labours ; and for this good deed, 
these stags, and all their fawns, bore a white mark on their 
bodies wherever they were touched by the harness or yoke. 
One day as the saint was standing in his well, where he used 
to say the whole book of Psalms throughout, a hind, pur- 
sued by hounds, fled to his feet for protection, whereupon St. 
Neot rebuked the dogs, and they turned backwards and left 
their prey. 

By his advice and persuasion King Alfred founded the 
great school at the ford of the Isis, now called Oxford. He 
died and was buried in his own monastery, but his body was 
stolen and carried to Arnulphsbury, in Huntingdonshire, now 
called St. Neots. 

The church of St. Neot in one respect is the most 
superb parish church in the kingdom, every window being 
full of stained glass, commemorating events in scripture his- 
tory, and in the lives of St. Neot, St. George, and other 
saints. In the wall of the north aisle was a coffin-shaped 
recess, hewn in stone, called St. Neot's shrine: which, being 
opened, was found to contain only a little dust. 

When Domesday book was compiled, there was a college 
here, called Neotstow. 

The tithe sheaf of the manor of St. Neot Barrett is 
appropriated to the repairs of the church. Two-thirds of 
the tithes of the two Fawtons and other farms were formerly 
applied to the repairs of Launceston castle. 



120 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

There was a chapel dedicated to St. Luke on the moors, 
near Dozmary Pool : the font is in Tidiford church. A part 
of St. Neot is included in the district of Bolventor chapel. 

The moors formerly ahounded with forest and red deer : 
Dungarth, King of Cornwall, who lived at Liskeard, used to 
hunt on the moors, with Alfred his guest ; roots and stems 
of large oaks and alders are yet found in the earth. A large 
part of the St. Neot moors has heen claimed by Alternon. 

John Anstis, Garter King of Arms, a great antiquarian 
and writer on heraldry, was born in St. Neot, in 1669. 



St. Cleer. — Two small angles of this parish are inclu- 
ded within the new borough of Liskeard, having been parts 
of the old borough. Treworgey and Roscraddock are in this 
parish ; and the village of Crow's Nest. 

Gypsum and asbestos are found in St. Cleer. 
The Looe, Seaton, and Tidy rivers rise in this parish, 
and the Fowey forms its western boundary for five miles, 
separating it from St. Neot. 

The greatest part of the parish consists of wild and un- 
cultivated moors. 

In this parish are St. Cleer's well, cross, and chapel, in 
ruins, the Trethevy cromlech, and Doniert's stone. 

TheTrethevy cromlech is the largest in the county; the 
upper slab is of vast size ; a hole in it was made of late time 
to put in a flag-staff. Trethevy means "the place of graves :" 
in old writings it is called casa gigantis, or the giant's hut. 

Doniert's, or The Other Half Stone, is a fractured granite 
pillar, about eight feet high. In digging near, a second frag- 
ment was found, bearing the inscription, " Doniert rogavit pro 
anima" or, " Doniert asks you to pray for his soul." Doniert 
is supposed to be Dungarth, King of Cornwall, who was 
drowned in hunting, about 872. 

The copper mines of Caradon are in this parish. A 
railway connects them with the Looe canal. 



OF CORNWALL. 121 

Liskeard. — This very ancient town was formerly called 
Liskerruyt. 

The new borough comprises the old borough and the 
rest of the parish ; it returned two members from 1294 till 
1S32, when one was taken away by the Reform Bill. Sir 
Edward Coke, afterwards Lord-Chief-Justice, represented it 
in 1620, and in 1773, Gibbon the historian. 

Liskeard was made a free borough by Richard, King of 
the Romans. Elizabeth granted a charter in 1580. 

Liskeard was one of the four coinage towns, but no tin 
had been assayed here for many years. 

This parish has five divisions ; the old borough, consti- 
tution lands, north, south, and west sides. 

Sir Ralph Hopton andSirBeville Grenville marched their 
army into Liskeard on the night of January 19, 1643, having 
in the morning defeated Ruthven, the Parliamentary Gene- 
ral, on Braddock Downs. King Charles entered with his 
army into Liskeard from Caradon, on Friday, August 2, 1644, 
and slept in Mr. Jeane's house six nights ; he slept here also 
one night, on his return from Boconnoc, on Wednesday, 
September 4, after the surrender of Essex's army at Fowey. 

The manor of Liskeard is part of the ancient posses- 
sions of the Earls of Cornwall. Richard, King of the 
Romans lived in the castle, which probably he built ; it was 
in ruins in the days of Henry VIII, but no part of its build- 
ings now remains. On its site is the grammar school, where 
Dean Prideaux and Walter Moyle were educated. 

The park, which contained 200 deer, was destroyed by 
Henry VIII. 

In the church is a monument to Joseph Wadham, " the 
last of that family whose ancestors were the founders of 
Wadham college, Oxford ; " the church belonged to Launces- 
ton Priory; the monks sought to appropriate the vicarage 
also, but were prevented. 

There was formerly a chapel of the Virgin in Liskeard 
park, to which there was great resort. 
f2 



122 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

Lanseathan, let for £50 a year, is vested in the church- 
wardens for the repairs of the church. 

There is a canal from Moorswater to Sandplace, near 
Looe, a distance of six miles ; and a railway from the Cheese- 
wring and Caradon mines to Moorswater. 

There is a chapel of ease at Dubwalls, the western end 
of the parish. 

A presbyterian meeting house was built here by Major 
Johnson, who came from Scotland with Monk's army. His 
halbert is preserved in it ; and if not duly occupied by dis- 
senters, it is to fall to the vicar of Liskeard. 

A manor by the name of Bodgury is inherited by the 
corporation. 

St. Pinnock. — St. Pinnock is bounded by Liskeard, St. 
Neot, Broadoak, Lanreath, and Duloe. 

The north-eastern part of the parish is contained in the 
new chapelry of Herodsfoot. 

St. Keyne. — St. Keyne, anciently Lametton, is a small 
parish, enclosed by Liskeard and Duloe. 

The manor of Lametton, the inheritance of Chief Jus- 
tice Tresilian, is now the property of the Rashleighs of 
Menabilly. 

About a mile from the church is the famous well of St. 
Keyne, concerning which it is recorded, that if, after marri- 
age, the wife should drink of its waters before her husband, 
she should govern the master and family for life ; and 
the ballad tells us that sly maidens used to take a bottle of 
its waters to church with them, and drink it in the porch, 
while the bridegroom was running to the well. 

Over the well, on an astonishingly small space, five trees, 
oak, elm, and ash, are growing close together. They were 
planted about 1750, by Jonathan Rashleigh, Esq., of Mena- 
billy. 



OF CORNWALL. 123 

Duloe. — Duloe means the Black Looe, and is so named 
from the river which bounds it on the east, separating it 
from Morval. 

It is divided into three districts, North, South, and West. 

The Liskeard canal runs to Terras Pill. 

Tremadaret, or Tremadart, belonged to Sir Hugh Tre- 
silian, Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, who was 
executed at Tyburn. It passed to Sir John Coleshill, who 
was slain at Agincourt, and to the Arundells of Lanherne, 
the last of whom sold it to John Anstis, Esq., Garter King 
of Arms. 

Trenant passed with Tremadart through several families, 
to Sir C. Treize, Sir J. Morshead, and Sir E. Buller. 

The living is valuable, and in the gift of Balliol College, 
Oxford. It contained two benefices, the vicarage and a 
sinecure rectory, to which a stipend of ^50 belonged. This 
latter endowment has been transferred to the new church of 
the district of Herodsfoot, formed out of the parishes of 
Duloe, St. Pinnock, and Lanreath. 

The church is old, and contains effigies in stone and brass. 

There are mines and powder mills at Herodsfoot. 

The lords of Treworgy claimed the sole right of all the 
fisheries in the Loce. 

Morval. — Morval lies between the rivers Looe and 
Seaton. It has Menheniot and Liskeard on the north, and 
St. Martins on the south. 

The manor of Morval belonged to Sir Hugh de Mor- 
ville, of Cumberland, one of the murderers of Archbishop 
Becket ; and afterwards to the Glynns. John Glynn, Esq., 
was murdered at Higher AVringworthy, by the retainers of 
Clemens, whom he had superseded as under-steward of the 
Duchy. Morval passed to the Coodes, and then to the 
Bullers. Sir Francis Buller, the eminent judge, was born here. 

Dr. John Mayow, a distinguished physician, was bom 
at Bray. 



124 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

At Sandplace the river Looe ceases to be navigable : a 
canal extends hence to Liskeard, for the transmission of 
granite and ore. 

St. Martins by Looe. — This parish is so named to 
distinguish it from St. Martins in Meneage : the river Looe 
separates it from Talland, and the Seaton from St. Germans. 
The old borough and town of East Looe is in this par- 
ish. It furnished 20 ships and 315 mariners for the siege of 
Calais, in 1347. It was incorporated in 1587 with Fowey; 
it sent a ship-owner to a Council at Westminster in 1340, 
but never sent any members to Parliament until 1570. It 
was disfranchised by the Reform Bill. 

Shouta, a village within the borough, is supposed to 
have been formerly of much greater extent: the towns and 
burgesses of Looe and Shouta are mentioned in the char- 
ters of the Bodrigans. 

There was an ancient chapel at East Looe, restored by 
Bishop Trelawny, and rebuilt in 1806 by John Buller, Esq. : 
a district has been attached, out of the parishes of Talland 
and St. Martins, including the towns of East and West Looe. 
Seaton and Hessenford are partly in the parish of St. 
Martins. 

The views round Looe and up the river are very lovely. 
The ancient bridge over the river Looe is only 6 feet 2 
inches wide, it is formed of thirteen arches, and was built 
about 1400. On it was a chapel of St. Anne. 

The mouth of the river is blocked with a bar of sand : 
it was formerly protected by a battery of eleven guns. The 
trade of Looe consists in pilchards, coal, and limestone. 

The Rev. Jonathan Toup, an annotator on Suidas and 
Theocritus, was for many years rector of St. Martins. 

Talland. — Talland has the sea, forming Talland Bay, 
on the south, and the river Looe, separating it from St. Mar- 
tins, on the east 



OF CORNWALL. 125 

Port Looe, or Port Pigham, includes the borough-town 
of "West Looe. West Looe returned two members to Par- 
liament from 1552 to 1832. Sir W. Petty represented it in 
Richard Cromwell's Parliament, and Sir Charles Wager in 
1740. Here is a mathematical school, endowed with ^1,000 
by John Speccot, for the benefit of the two towns. 

The chapel of St. Nicholas, in West Looe, was desecrated, 
and used for a town-hall, but is now restored to religious uses. 
Looe Island lies half-a-mile out at sea; it is nearest to 
Talland, and is also called St. George's Island, because a 
chapel, dedicated to that saint, once stood on it. It measures 
fourteen acres, and is the property of the Trelawnys. Choughs 
build in the rabbit-burrows on the side of the island. A rock 
between the mainland and island is called Midmain, and the 
water west of it, Portnadler Bay. 

Talland church is full of rich and beautiful workman- 
ship. The transept is called Killigarth aisle. It contains 
the monumental tomb of John Beville, Esq., 1574 : over it 
are hung rusty helmets, swords, and gauntlets. On the 
south side of the church is a porch, with two entrances ; and 
on the south side of the porch a high tower. 

The manor of Port Looe belongs to the Duchy. The 
manor of Talland belonged to the Morths : one of this fam- 
ily employed in his household a miller of Brittany; "but 
this fellow's service befell commodious in the worst sense : 
for when, not long after his acceptance, wars grew between 
us and France, he stealeth over into his country, returneth 
privily back again with a French crew, surprizeth suddenly 
his master and his guests at a Christmas supper, carrieth 
them speedily into Brittany, and forceth the gentleman to 
redeem his enlargement with the sale of a great part of his 
revenues." 

Killigarth belonged to the Bevilles : it is now in the 
family of Kendall, of Pelyn. John Size was a servant of 
Sir W. Beville's of Killigarth, whom he found under a hedge 
in winter, nearly dead of cold. This man would eat nettles 



128 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

and thistles, coals and candles, live birds with their feathers, 
and live fish with their scales : he would handle, harmless, 
blazing wood and hot iron : and used to lie asleep with his 
head curled under his body. 

Part of the fishing- town of Polperro is in the parish of 
Talland. 

Lansalloes. — Lantivet Bay runs between this parish 
and Lanteglos. 

It contains part of the town of Polperro, which was once 
called Porthpyre, and is divided between Talland and Lan- 
salloes by a small river, passing under an aged bridge. Its 
situation is very romantic, lying in a little cove, at the foot 
of two high rocky hills. It carries on a large fishing trade, 
especially in pilchards. There was formerly a chapel of St. 
Peter on the western hill, in Lansalloes parish. A new 
chapel has been built below its site. 

The tower of the church is lofty, and a well-known sea 
mark. The cliff below it is famous for badgers. 

Pelynt. — Pelynt is enclosed by St. Pinnock, Duloe, 
Lansalloes, and Talland. 

Trelawne passed from the families of Bodrigan and 
Champernowne, to Lord Bonville. His son, Sir "William 
Bonville, and his grandson, Lord Harrington, were slain 
before his eyes in the battle of Wakefield, in December, 
1460. In the February following, being himself taken pris- 
oner in the battle of St. Albans, he was beheaded by order 
of Queen Margaret. The only daughter of Lord Harrington 
brought Trelawne to the Marquis of Dorset : in the attainder 
of his grandson Henry, Duke of Suffolk, it was seized by 
the Crown. It was purchased of King James I, in 1600, by 
Sir Jonathan Trelawny of Pool, in Menheniot, who made it 
his residence : his son, Sir John Trelawny, was the first bar- 
onet: his grandson was Sir Jonathan Trelawny, Bishop of 
Bristol, one of the seven prelates committed to the Tower by 
James II ; of whom thus the ballad — 



OP CORNWALL. 127 

"And shall they scorn Tre, Pol, and Pen ? 

And shall Trelawny die ? 
Then twenty thousand Cornish men 

Will see the reason why." 

tie became afterwards Bishop of Exeter, and then of Win- 
chester : he rebuilt the chapel at Trelawne, and, dying here, 
was buried in Pelynt church. His crozier is still preserved 
in the church ; it is of copper gilt, and a few years ago was 
struck with lightning and melted. 

Tregarrick was the seat of the Winslades, hereditary 
Esquires of the White Spur: John "Winslade was executed 
for being a leader in the Cornish rebellion, in 1549. Tre- 
garrick was the first residence of the Bullers. 

The Giants' Hedge passes through this parish, and there 
are traces of a Roman road from Pelynt to Fowey, the course 
of which is marked by barrows, containing coins and arrow- 
heads. 

Lanreath. — Lanrethow was the old name of this dis- 
trict. 

Court was the seat of the Grylls family. 

There is an entrenchment on Berry Down. 

The chapelry of Herodsfoot includes part of this parish. 

Lanteglos by Fowey. — This parish lies on the right 
bank of the river Fowey; Pencarrow Point is its southern 
extremity, forming the eastern side of Lanlic Bay. Two 
creeks of the Fowey run into the parish up to Pont Pill and 
Lerrin. Mixtow, in Lanteglos, belongs to the borough of 
Fowey. 

Polruan, a fishing-town and anciently a borough, is on 
the east side of Fowey Harbour. On the shore is a ruinous 
block-house, from which a chain was formerly extended 
across the harbour to Fowey. Above the town are an old 
well and cross, and the ruins of St. Saviour's chapel : a 
bulla, or leaden seal, of Pope Urban VI, was dug up here. 
f5 



128 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

There are ferries across the Fowey from Polruan and Bodin- 
nick. 

Hall is the ancient seat of the Mohuns. It was taken 
from the Parliamentary troops by Sir R. Grenville, who also 
captured Pernon Fort, which commands the harbour. King 
Charles was here on Saturday, August 17, 1644, and while 
walking on the terrace, narrowly escaped being struck with 
a ball from the guns of Essex at Fowey. 

Lanteglos church was assigned to the hospital of Bridg- 
water. St. Willow, an ancient hermit, was said to have been 
beheaded here. Walter Hart, Bishop of Norwich, was the 
son of a miller in Lanteglos. 

The cliffs on the coast are high and rugged, and the 
scenery grand. 

St. Veep. — St. Veep, anciently St. Wepe, is separated 
by the Fowey from St. Sampsons. It is bounded on the 
south by Penpol, or St. Cadix Creek, and on the north by 
Lerrin Creek. 

The greater part of the village of Lerrin is in this parish. 

The forces under Charles I, on Tuesday, August 13, 
1644, took possession of the pass from St. Veep to Golant. 

The church is dedicated to St. Cyrus and Julietta. The 
infant Cyrus and his mother Julietta suffered martyrdom 
under Diocletian. 

There was a little priory at St. Cadix. 

Trevelyan was one of the seats of the family so named. 

The Giants' Hedge, a large ridge of earth, seven feet 
high, without any passes in it, extends in a straight line over 
hill and dale for seven miles, from Lerrin to West Looe. 

William Bastard, lawyer, built an almshouse, and left 
the tenement of Nethercombe to the poor of St. Veep and 
Buloe for ever. 

The little river Trebant passes through the parish. 

Boconnoc— The manor of Boconnoc, extending over 



OP CORNWALL. 129 

Boconnoc, Broadoak, St. Veep, and St. Winnow, belonged 
in succession to the Earls of Cornwall, the Carminowes, 
Courtenays, Russels, and Mohuns. It was purchased by 
Governor Pitt, and is now the property of the family of 
Grenville. The house is seated on rising ground, in a lawn 
of 100 acres; the park is well wooded and stocked with deer ; 
the oak and beech trees are the finest in the county. There 
is a drive of six miles in circuit round the park, and the 
river Lerrin runs through it. 

On the hill above Boconnoc House, in the centre of an 
intrenchment thrown up in the civil wars, is erected an obelisk 
in memory of Sir Richard Lyttelton. 

Between this obelisk and Broadoak church was fought a 
decisive battle between Sir Ralph Hopton, heading the King's 
troops, and Ruthven, the Parliamentary general, on Thurs- 
day, January 19, 1643-4. The Royalists came from Bodmin 
on Wednesday, and by Lord Mohun's favour, slept all night 
with good fires under the hedges in Boconnoc Park. Next 
morning they found the Parliamentarians drawn up on rising 
ground on Braddock Downs, and planting themselves on a 
hill against them, kept up a fire of small-arms for two hours. 
At length Sir Beville Grenville, leading the van down the 
one hill and up the other, attacked the enemy with so great 
valour that they gave way on the first charge, and fled in rout 
to Liskeard, with great loss of men and arms. The King's 
troops chased them into Liskeard, took it without resistance, 
and chased them out again. 

In August, 1644, Boconnoc House was occupied by 
Essex's general, Dalbier, and other officers; King Charles 
sent a troop of horse from Liskeard, who caught them in 
the midst of a grand dinner, and brought them all, except 
Dalbier, prisoners to Liskeard. On August 8 the King him- 
self arrived at Boconnoc, but being in some danger, he left 
again for Glynn ; finding the militia posted there, he returned, 
and slept all night in his carriage on the open downs. Next 
day he took up his quarters in Boconnoc House, and kept 



ISO I*AR0CHIAt GEOGRApflf 

court there many days. Near the parsonage is shewn the 1 
trunk of an aged oak, in which it is said the King's standard 
was fixed, and near which he was standing, when a ball struck 
the tree. 

Prince Charles was at Boconnoc in November, 1645. 

The rectories of Boconnoc and Broadoak Were consol- 
idated by act of parliament. Boconnoc church has no tower. 
The oaken communion table is carved underneath with these 
words, " Made by me, Sir Raynold Mohun, 1629." 

Some unprofitable lead mines were worked in Boconnoc 
Park, as early as the time of Charles I. 

Broadoak or Braddocx. — Broadoak is separated by 
the Fowey from St. Neot^ Warleggan, and Cardinham. 

On Braddock and Boconnoc Downs the Parliamentary 
general, Ruthven, was defeated by Sir Beville Grenville, in 
1643. The King's army encamped on the same spot the 
next year. 

On these downs are many ancient barrows, which are 
found to contain urns of rough pottery. 

St. Winnow. — St. Winnow is bounded by the JFowey 
on the west, and by Lerrin Creek on the south. 

Twelve acres in this parish, without a house, adjoining 
the eastern end of Lostwithiel Bridge, are in the borough of 
Lostwithiel. 

Resprin and St. Nighton, in St. Winnow, were, it appears, 
formerly small separate parishes. There is a chapel and bury- 
ing-ground at St. Nighton, and there was once St. Martin's 
chapel at Resprin, 

Druids' Hill, crowned with an old cross, and St. Nighton' s 
Beacon, are in this parish. The village of Bridgend, a part 
of the town of Lostwithiel, is in St. Winnow parish, separ- 
ated by the river Fowey, but connected by the ancient bridge. 

Ethy is the seat of the family of Howell. 

On St. Nighton's Beacon is a square earthwork, thrown 
\si) in the civil wars. While the King was at Boconnoc, a 



6F CORNWALL. lSt 

Parliamentary officer, Colonel Straughan, in the presence of 
both armies, challenged the King's forces to a fight with a 
hundred troopers on each side. The challenge was accepted 
on the King's part by Colonel Digby, and the combatants 
met on Saturday, August 10, on Druids' Hill, above Lost- 
withiel. Straughan's troop consisted of young men, from 16 
to 20 years, on whose chins never a razor had passed : they 
were armed with double-barrelled pistols* loaded with three or 
four bullets j and, by Straughan's command, receiving their 
enemies' fire in silence* they rushed on the very horses' 
heads of Digby' s troopers, and made so murderous a dis- 
charge, that one half of the Royalists fell dead or mortally 
wounded, and of the rest scarce man or horse escaped with- 
out injury. 

Across this country Sir William Balfour made his escape 
with Essex's horse. 



III.— HUNDRED OF STRATTON. 



This Hundred, lying northwards from the Hundred of 
East, is situated between the Tamar and the sea. " His cir- 
cuit is slender, but his fruitfulness great." The orchards 
and gardens are very productive. In many parts it is well 
wooded : it is not a mining district : it contains twelve par- 
ishes : — 



Bridgerule, West 
Boyton, part of. 
North Tamerton. 
Whitstone. 



Launcells. 
Kilkhamptom 
Moorwinstow. 
Poughill. 



Stratton. 
Marhamchurch* 
Week St. Mary. 
Jacobstow. 



Bridgerule. — The Tamar divides this parish between 
Cornwall and Devon. The church is in Devon. The Cor- 
nish part is only about a quarter of the parish, and is called 
West Bridgerule* 



132 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

There is a manor in the parish called Tacabre, and 
under this name this district is mentioned in the Norman 
survey ; it was given by Edward III to the abbey of St. Mary 
de Graces, in London. Hence probably it acquired the 
present name of Merrifield. a corruption of Maryficld. 

This parish belongs to the Archdeaconry of Totnes. 

Boyton. — Boyton, like Bridgerule, is divided by the 
Tamar between Devon and Cornwall. That part of the 
parish in Devonshire is called Northcot Hamlet: here lived 
Agnes Prest, the only person in the diocese of Exeter put 
to death for her religion in the reign of Queen Mary. She 
was burnt alive at Southernhay, outside the walls of Exeter; 
and the place of her execution is still shown. 

The manor of Boyton was forcibly taken from the 
Abbey of Tavistock by Robert, Earl of Cornwall : it now 
belongs to the Duchy. 

Near Bermacott are two tumuli, called WilsworthY 
Barrows. 

South of this parish are North Petherwin and Werring- 
ton. These two parishes, though lying west of the Tamar, 
and being included in the Archdeaconry of Cornwall, are 
yet Contained in the civil bounds of the county of Devon ; 
while St. Giles in the Heath, on the east of the Tamar, and 
in the county of Devon, is under the jurisdiction of the 
Archdeacon of Cornwall. These parishes form the large 
manor of Werrington. It belonged to Ordulph, the great 
Duke of Devon, whose armour used to be shown in Werring- 
ton church ; he gave the manor to Tavistock Abbey, and it 
was the principal manor of this rich abbey at its suppression. 
King Henry VIII granted it to Lord John Russel, Duke of 
Bedford. "Werrington House was once the residence of Sir 
Francis Drake. It is now the property and occasional resi- 
dence of the Duke of Northumberland. 

The river Attery flows through Werrington Park into 
the Tamar. On the banks of this river, at a place called 



OF CORNWALL. 13$ 

Ladies' Cross, King Edgar is said to have met Elfrida. She 
was the daughter of Orgarius, Duke of Cornwall, and the 
loveliest woman of her time. The King, having heard of 
her surpassing beauty, sent down his favourite Ethelwold to 
ascertain the truth, hut he, smitten with her charms, wooed 
and wedded her himself. Afterwards, in a hunting excursion on 
Dartmoor, Edgar, passing near Orgarius' house, saw Elfrida. 
Ethelwold was soon after found dead in the forest, and Edgar 
married Elfrida. 

Tamerton. — This parish is often called North Tamer- 
ton, to distinguish it from South Tamerton, or Tamerton 
Foliot, near Plymouth. 

It takes its name from the Tamar, which flows through 
the north and east parts of the parish, and begins to swell 
into an important river. 

The Tamar cuts off the north-east angle, containing 
the estate of Vacy, from the main part of the parish. This 
angle, and a smaller one in St. Budeaux, are the only portions 
of Cornwall beyond the Tamar. 

The pulpit in the church of Tamerton is very richly 
carved. 

At Hornacott is an old chapel, in a ruinous condition. 

The great tithes of Tamerton church, which had become 
alienated to the Crown, were restored to the cure in the early 
part of the last century, through the exertions of the incum- 
bent, the Rev. John Bennet. 

Whitstone. — Many of the villages of Cornwall are 
famous for woodcocks, but no parish has ever been so famous 
for them as Whitstone. These birds used to be caught in 
nets in vast numbers by the cottagers, and yielded them so 
large a means of subsistence, that the right of taking them 
without license was allowed to the parish under the Game 
Acts. 

There was formerly a chapel at Froxton, dedicated to 
the Holy Trinity. 



134 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

Launcells. — This parish has Kilkhampton on the 
north, the Tamar on the east, Marhamchurch and Bridgerule 
on the south, and Stratton on the west. 

The church stands in a low vale ; it contains some old 
encaustic tiles, and many seats richly carved. 

It is said that there is a breed of snakes in this parish 
different from any in the west of the county : they are four 
Or five feet long, and have a white or yellow ring round their 
necks. 

There is an ancient alms-house for the support of four 
old persons, with a small endowment. 

Kilkhampton. — Kilkhampton, also anciently called 
Kilhamland, lies between the Tamar and the sea. 

The reservoir of the Bude Canal, which is supplied from 
the Tamar, and covers 60 acres, is partly in this parish. 

The church is very handsome : the south doorway is the 
richest specimen of Norman architecture in Cornwall. There 
are many monuments in it to the memory of the great family 
of the Grenvilles, who lived at Stowe, in this parish, for 600 
years. Their mansion was at one time the most magnifi- 
cent building in the west of England, covering 3J acres 
of ground. It is now quite destroyed, with all its gardens, 
parks, and ponds. 

One of the rectors of Kilkhampton was Nicholas Monk, 
brother of General Monk : and Sir J. Grenville, of Stowe, 
was the bearer of the letters of King Charles II to the Par- 
liament, in 1669. The Rev. James Hervey, when curate of 
this parish, wrote his " Meditations among the Tombs,'' and 
describes the church and Grenville' s vault in his book. 

The great Sir B. Grenville, the glory of Cornwall, the 
" chevalier sans reproche ", slain in the King's cause at Lans- 
down, near Bath, was buried in Kilkhampton church. Denis 
Grenville, Dean of Durham, was born at Stowe ; he was a 
good, pious, and learned man, became a nonjuror, and died 
in voluntary exile* 



OF CORNWALL. 135 

This parish, with the adjoining parishes of Moorwinstow 
and Poughill, lies upon the dunstone, or clay slate. 

Moorwinstow. — Moorwinstow is the most northemly 
parish of Cornwall. It is called also Morwenstow, and means 
the place of St. Morwenna. It is hounded on the north by 
the Devonshire parishes of Welcombe and Hartland ; east 
by Bradworthy, also in Devonshire, and from which it is 
separated by the stream of the Tamar ; south by Kilkhamp- 
ton ; and west by the sea. In the north-east corner of the 
parish the rivers Tamar and Torridge take their rise. 

The church is large, and stands near the cliff. It once 
belonged to the hospital of Bridgwater. 

The manor of Stanbury was the birth-place of John 
Stanbury, Bishop of Hereford, who was made first Provost 
of Eton College by King Henry VI, the founder. Sir W. 
Adams, the eminent oculist, was also born at Stanbury. 

The coast scenery is grand, and the cliffs high. 

Poughill. — This parish was known by the names of 
Pochewell, Pegwille, and Pugeham. 

The manor formerly belonged to Clyve Abbey, in Som- 
ersetshire. 

On Stamford Hill, in this parish, was fought the famous 

battle of Stratton. The Earl of Stamford, the Parliamentary 

general, had posted himself on the brow of the hill in a 

strong position ; having under him 4000 men, well provided 

with artillery. He was attacked by the King's Cornish forces 

under Sir Beville Grenville, Sir Ralph Hopton, and Sir John 

Berkeley, with greatly inferior numbers ; and after a sharp 

conflict was beaten from his ground and forced to fly, leaving 

many prisoners and all his artillery in the Royalists' hands. 

A monument was afterwards erected on the site of the battle* 

with this inscription : 

" In this place the rebell army 

Under the command of the Earl of Stamford received 

a signal overthrow, hy the valour of 

Sir Beville Grenville, and the Cornish forces, 

on Tuesday, 6th May, 1643." 



136 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAFHY 

The monument has since been taken down, because the con- 
course of people who came to visit it destroyed the farmer's 
crops. 

Stratton. — Stratton is a parish and small market-town 
cf great antiquity, and was probably a Roman station : the 
Saxons called it Street-town, or Stratton, because of the 
Roman road, or street, which passed through it. 

The church is fine, has a noble tower, and carved oak 
benches ; in one of the windows is a full-length figure of a 
crusader. 

John Avery, schoolmaster, built an alms-house, and 
recovered for the poor of the parish several valuable bene- 
factions, of which they had been deprived; 

" The church he loved and beautified, 
His highest glory and his pride." 

The battle of Stratton was fought between the Royalists 
under Sir Beville Grenville, and the Parliamentary forces 
under the Earl of Stamford: the Royalists, though greatly 
inferior in numbers and artillery, gained a signal victory. A 
tablet, which once stood against a pillar erected on the site 
of the battle, is now affixed to the wall of the Ash Tree Inn, 
the old manor-house, in the town of Stratton. Sir Ralph 
Hopton, in acknowledgment of his great exertions for the 
King's cause in Cornwall, was created Lord Hopton of 
Stratton. 

Binamy Castle, the ancient inheritance of the Blanch- 
minsters, is in ruins. 

Bude, Budeham, or Budehaven, is in this parish. It is 
much frequented as a summer watering-place, and was once 
a town of importance ; it still carries on a large trade with 
Bristol and Ireland, but the harbour is much blocked up 
with sand, driven in by the westernly winds. It is said to 
have been the landing-place of Agricola, in a.d. 83. The 
commerce of this port was greatly increased by the con- 
struction of the Bude Canal: it was made between 1819 and 



OF CORNWALL. 137 

1826, and extends thirty- five miles into the two counties ; 
one branch going to the northward, crossing the Tamar, and 
terminating on Blagdon Moor in Devon ; the other running 
nearly parallel with the Tamar, and terminating near Laun- 
ceston. 

The Bude Light was invented by Mr. Gurney, a native 
of the town. 

St. Michael's chapel, Bude, was built and endowed in 
1835, by Sir T. D. Acland. 

Opposite Bude is Old Chapel Rock, whereon are the 
ruins of a chapel, dedicated to the Venerable Bede. 

Anthony Payne, a native of Stratton, was a man of 
gigantic size and strength ; he faithfully followed his master, 
Sir John Grenville, through all the troubles of the rebellion, 
and at the Restoration was made a Yeoman of the King's 
Guard, and gunner of Plymouth citadel. 

Marhamchurch. — This parish derives its name, like 
Moorwinstow, from St. Morwenna, to whom the church is 
dedicated : it is an ancient structure, surrounded by trees. 

There are ruins of two old chapels at Hilton and Whales- 
borough. 

Week St. Mary. — Week St. Mary, or St. Mary Week, 
is called in Doomsday Book simply Wick. 

There was formerly a chapel at Goscote, dedicated to 
St Lawrence. 

In a field adjoining the churchyard, still called Castle 
Hill, the foundations of extensive buildings may be traced. 

A chantry and grammar-school were founded in Week 
St. Mary in the reign of Henry VIII, by Dame Thomasine 
Perceval, provided with lodgings for the masters, scholars, 
and officers, and endowed with ^20 a year. At this school 
some of the best gentlemen's sons in Cornwall and Devon 
were virtuously trained up. It was suppressed by Edward VI. 
Thomasine Perceval was a native of Week St. Mary, 
and in her youth kept sheep or geese on a common called 



138 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

Greenamore. A London merchant passing by, was so pleased 
with the looks and manners of the child, that he took her 
with him to his home to wait on his wife. On the death of 
his wife he married her, and left her a rich widow. She mar- 
ried a second and third time, her last husband being Sir John 
Perceval, Lord Mayor of London. After his death she re- 
turned to her native village, and spent her money in repair- 
ing churches and highways, founding schools, building 
bridges, endowing maidens, and feeding the poor. 

Jacobstow. — A small part of this parish is cut off by 
the junction of a narrow slip of Week St. Mary and the 
detached part of Warbstow. 

Jacobstow, in the year 1573, gave birth to Diggory 
Wheare, appointed by Camden first reader in history at 
Oxford. He wrote a Life of Camden, Lectures on History, 
and other works, and became Principal of St. Mary's Hall, 
Oxford. 

Berry Court is the name of a large house, surrounded 
with a moat : it is backed on the east by deep woods, said to 
have been given by Dame Thomasine Perceval to the poor of 
St. Mary Week. 



IV.— HUNDRED OF TRIGG. 



The Hundred of Trigg contains twelve parishes : 

St. Teath. Helland. St. Kew. 

St. Breward. Bodmin. Endellion. 

Blisland. St. Mabyn. St. Minver. 

Temple. St. Tudy. Egloshayle. 

The soil abounds with clay and slate, and carries large 
crops of wheat. There are some mines in this Hundred. 

St. Teath.— The name of this parish has been written 
at various times, St. Eath, St. Etha, and St. Tetha. 



OF CORNWALL. 139 

The celebrated old family of Carminow lived at Trehan- 
ick in St. Teath. William Carminow, the last of the name, 
died in 1646 : he was a devoted loyalist, and suffered severely 
for his King. In the Archdeacon's registry at Bodmin is a 
record " of the proper goods of William Carminow, of St. 
Teath, gent., being not unplundered in the time of the un- 
natural rebellion," which begins with this entry, " Imprimis, 
we prize his purse, girdell, and all his waring apparell now 
left, or can be found unplundered, £5." Trehanick after- 
wards came into the possession of the Cheneys, and from 
them the Cheney Downs in this parish are named. 

In St. Teath are the celebrated Delabole or Dennyball 
slate quarries : they are excavated to the depth of 240 feet, 
and extend 300 yards in length and 100 in breadth. The slate 
they yield is the best in the kingdom, perhaps in the world. 
Near the surface for 50 feet it is inferior ; for the next 50 feet it 
improves in quality, and is used for pavestones, never sweat- 
ing like the cliff-slate. The best slate is called bottom-stone, 
and lies at a depth of from 25 to 40 fathoms ; it is very hard, 
smooth, and compact, so that when struck it will ring like 
metal. It is raised from the quarry by a large steam-engine ; 
is then divided into plates of various shapes, size, and thick- 
ness, and sent to Port Isaac. The different kinds are named 
according to their value, Queens, Duchesses, Ladies, or 
Maidens. There is a tunnel to carry off the water, and en- 
gines to pump it out. The quarries have been worked for 
150 years, and are very profitable, though expensive in 
operation. 

Capt. Bligh, the Commander of the Bounty, was born 
in this parish. He was sent by King George III, in 1787, 
to bring bread-fruit from the South Sea Islands to the West 
Indies. He collected more than a thousand plants from the 
island of Tahiti, and had set sail for America, when the crew, 
led by one of the mates named Christian, mutinied, seized 
the ship, and put Captain Bligh to sea, with eighteen others, 
in an open boat. He crossed the Pacific Ocean, in sore 



140 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

suffering and peril, over 1200 leagues of water, and at length 
safely reached Timor, in the Indian Archipelago. The 
mutineers settled on Pitcairn's Island, which at this day is 
peopled by their descendants. 

St. Breward, or Simonward. — This extensive, but 
barren parish, is bounded on the north by Advent, on the 
east by Alternon, on the south by Blisland, and on the west 
by St. Udy, from which it is separated by the Camel. 

The district appears under the name of Bruerd about 
two hundred years after the Conquest. 

It is named from William Brewer, Bishop of Exeter in 
1224. He was sent by King Henry III on several foreign 
embassies, and afterwards went into Palestine, where he 
fought against the infidels at the head of 100,000 men. He 
founded the Deanery and other offices, and many of the 
Prebends in Exeter Cathedral. To the chancellorship he 
assigned the rectories of Newlyn in Cornwall, and Stoke 
Gabriel in Devon, on condition that the chancellor should 
preach a sermon once in every week to the canons. This 
covenant has been punctually observed to this day. 

Brownwilly, the highest hill in Cornwall, is in this par- 
ish ; it is 1368 feet above the level of the sea. Roughtor is 
72 feet lower than Brownwilly, and their bases join. Both 
these hills command a view of all the moors and the north 
coast. They are included in the very ancient and extensive 
manor of Hametethy, which covers a great part of the adja- 
cent parishes. 

The tower of St. Breward church has been often struck 
with lightning. There was once a chapel on Boughtor, 
dedicated to St. Michael. 

There are several mines of copper in this parish, and 
stream-washings for tin. 

Blisland. — This district was anciently called Bliston- 
juxta-montem, that is, Bliston near the mountain, meaning 



OF CORNWALL. 141 

Roughtor. It was forfeited to the crown in the reign of 
Henry VII, but is now in private holding. 

On the moorlands in the north of the parish stands a 
large rock, called Pendrift, formerly a logan-stone and rocked 
by the wind, but now immovable. A native of the parish 
sculptured a figure of Britannia out of this rock, and en- 
graved on another part of it the royal arms and the arms of 
Cornwall. 

Blisland is separated from St. Brewardby the river Lank, 
which rises at the foot of Roughtor. 

Temple. — This small parish is in the middle of the 
wild district called the Moors. 

It is bounded by St. Neot, "Warleggan, Cardinham, and 
Blisland. 

The church belonged to the Preceptory of the Knights 
Hospitallers at Trebigh, in St. Tve ; it is now in ruins. The 
parson of this parish had the privilege of marrying parties 
without banns or license, and here (contrary to the rule of 
the church) were buried in sacred ground those who had slain 
themselves. 

Temple contains fewer people than any other parish in 
the county. In" 1851 the population was 24. 

The twelve parishes round Temple form the district 
called the Moors. They are not sterile, like Dartmoor, but 
capable of cultivation, and give good pasture for cattle. They 
cover about ten square miles. 

Helland. — Helland, one of the four parishes forming 
the new borough of Bodmin, is bounded by Bodmin, St. 
Mabyn, Cardinham, Blisland, and Egloshayle, from which 
last it is separated by the Camel. 

The Bodmin Railway runs along the banks of the river 
to "YVenford Bridge. 

Bodmin. — Bodmin is the county-town of Cornwall, and 
lies nearly in the centre of the county. Here are the County 



142 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

Goal, the Asylum, and the Archdeacon's Court and Registry : 
the Assizes and Sessions are also held here. 

It is a very ancient town, and had a market in Domes- 
day time. It has returned two members to Parliament for 
more than six hundred years. 

Bodmin has at different times suffered severely from 
the plague. It was one of the coinage towns, but lost the 
privilege. It was the head- quarters of Flammock and Joseph, 
and Perky n Warbeck drew up his forces near the town : 
Arundel also set up his standard here : the inhabitants paid 
dear forfeit of life and property for their share in these in- 
surrections. 

In the civil wars Bodmin was occupied in turn by both 
royalists and rebels, and many hard fights took place in its 
neighbourhood : it finally surrendered to Fairfax in 1646. 

The church is the largest and finest in the county ; the 
spire, which was very elegant and lofty, was thrown down by 
lightning in 1699. A small chapel east of the chancel was 
destroyed in 1776. There were formerly in the town a priory 
and thirteen churches, parts of some of which still remain. 

The monks of Padstow, for fear of the Danes, fled to 
Bodmin, carrying St. Petrock's body with them ; hence the 
town was called by the Britons Bodmannia, or the Town of 
the Monks; by the Saxons Petrockstow, or the Place of 
Petrock. One of the monks stole the saint's body and made 
off to Brittany, but Henry II compelled him to restore it 
to its resting-place in Bodmin. 

Bodmin was probably the first seat of the Bishops of 
Cornwall : a copy of the Gospels in the British Museum 
contains entries of the manumission of slaves before the 
Bishop of Bodmin, a hundred years before the Conquest. 
But the church and town having been ravaged by the Danes, 
the see was removed to St. Germans, and called the Bishop- 
rick of St. Germans and Bodmin. Bishop Lyvyng, the last 
Bishop of Cornwall, was permitted by Knute to join the 
Cornish see to that of Crediton ; the next Bishop removed 



OF CORNWALL. H3 

it to Exeter. There were ordinations in Bodmin church by 
suffragan Bishops as late as 1538. Thomas Vivian, who was 
suffragan Bishop at Bodmin for twenty years, lies under a 
handsome monument in the chancel. 

John Pomeroy, Vicar of Bodmin, died in the reading- 
desk, as he was preparing to say prayers, in 1813. 

There is an old burying-ground at Berry Tower, on a 
hill north of the town. In a Roman camp, at Tregear, were 
found urns of fine Samian ware, and coins of Vespasian. 

A spring of water rises out of the churchyard, and flows 
Into the street through the mouths of two lions, hewn in 
granite, over which is the date of 1545. 

In the decayed village of St. Lawrence was a lazar-house, 
or hospital of lepers, incorporated by Queen Elizabeth, and 
consisting of seven houses, a chapel, a miJl, and a prison for 
offenders ; to each house was given a cow. The last inmate 
died in 1800. The buildings are now in ruins, and the en- 
dowment is transferred to the support of the county Infirmary 
at Truro. 

The priory of Bodmin was suppressed at the Reform- 
ation : its buildings and lands were granted to Thomas Stern- 
hold, one of the authors of the old version of the singing 
Psalms. King Henry VIII left a minute in his own hand- 
writing for the restoration of the Cornish see out of the 
revenues of the priories of Bodmin, Launceston, and St. 
Germans. 

There is a railway from Bodmin to Wadeb ridge. 
The grammar school was founded by Queen Elizabeth, 
and endowed from the Exchequer: like the grammar schools 
of Liskeard and Lostwithiel it has sunk to decay. 

Castle Canyke is the site of an ancient fortress, now 
covered with grass. 

" Take him before the mayor of Halgaver " is a Cornish 
proverb, arising from an old custom of the people of Bod- 
min, who used to assemble in confused multitudes on Hal- 
gaver Moor every year in the month of July, and elect a 



144< PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

mayor of misrule, and hold a mock trial for the punishment 
of petty offenders : its modern observance is called Bodmin 
Riding. 

St. Mabyn.— St. Mabyn is separated from Helland by 
the Camel. 

The church has a noble tower, standing on a height. 

The manor of Colquite was the property of the Lords 
Marney, once a family of great renown : on the death of the 
late Lord Marney, it descended to George, Earl of Suffolk. 
The wood and rock scenery on the banks of the Camel is 
very beautiful. 

There is an alms-house in the church-town, built with a 
legacy of William Pasko, which, having been lost, was re- 
covered by a suit in chancery. 

St. Tudy. — This parish was formerly called St. Udy. 

Tremere was the birth-place of Sir William Lower, who, 
loving his church and King better than his lands or life, 
perilled the one and lost the other in their defence, and was 
driven into Holland, where he wrote certain poems. Here 
also was born Dr. Richard Lower, an eminent physician in 
the time of Charles II. 

There is a ruined chapel at Kelly Green. 

St. Kew. — St. Kew, anciently Lanow, is bounded on 
the north by Endellion and St. Minver ; on the east by St. 
Tudy and St. Mabyn ; on the south by Egloshayle ; and on 
the west by the Camel. 

The church is much like Bodmin church on a reduced 
plan. Its windows are full of stained glass in figures, brought 
from one of the old churches in Bodmin. In one of the win- 
dows is the figure of a beast, said to be a wild boar, which 
infested the neighbourhood of St. Kew, and was slain by a 
man named Lanow, in Lanow woods in this parish. 

Endellion. — Endellion is a parish of hills and valleys, 
opening to the sea. 



OF CORNWALL. 145 

The church is very old, and contains many good relics 
of ancient church work; 

There are three sinecure prebends attached to the church, 
all three having portions of the tithes, and two of them 
glebes and houses* 

Bones and human skeletons have been dug up in a field 
near the church, and there is a tradition that it was the scene 
of a great fight in the rebellion. 

In this parish is Port Issyk (that is, the Saxon's Port), 
corrupted into Port Isaac, lying buried in the coast, at the 
foot of a steep hill. It has a small harbour, with a pier, begun 
in Henry VIII' s reign ; it is the place of exportation of the 
Delabole slate, and the chief seat of the fisheries on this 
coast. 

Roscarrock House is a large castellated building amongst 
the cliffs, long the inheritance of the family of that ancient 
name, who were very faithful in the rebellion: the family is 
now extinct ; their house in ruin's. In lieu of tithes this 
manor used to pay a modus of £9, on the morning of Michael- 
mas-day, at sun-rising, in the church porch. 

The Cheney Downs, in this parish and others, are so 
named from the noble family long resident in the manor- 
house of Cheney. Digging in the ruins, men found a flight 
of moorstone steps, leading to a vaulted chamber, in which 
was a beautiful porcelain urn, little injured. 

Portquin, and Portkerne, are small fishing-coves on the 
coast. Near Portquin are old antimony mines. 

St. Minver. — St. Minver is bounded south and west by 
Padstow Haven and the Camel ; on the east by St. Kew, and 
a creek that separates it from Egloshayle. 

St. Minver is divided into the Highlands and Lowlands. 
The Highlands contain the mother church ; the Lowlands 
are divided into two chapelries, St. Enodock, and Porthilly 
or St. Michael's. There are burial grounds attached to each 
of the three churches. 

g2 



146 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

The parish has one rate for the Queen's taxes, two for 
the poor, and three for the church. 

The sea-sand has overwhelmed hundreds of acres of land 
in this parish, with a church and many houses. In the drift- 
ing of the sands the buildings may sometimes be seen. 

St. Enodock church is completely surrounded by a sandy 
desert : the sands rise above the level of its roof, and a path- 
way is often cut through the embankment. It is said that 
the parson is sometimes obliged to enter by the roof. 

Pentire Point is the boldest and most exposed headland 
on this coast, and beneath are dark caves and savage rocks. 

Trewornan bridge is built over a dangerous ford of the 
Camel. 

Portquin Bay runs into the northern coast ; off Pentire 
Point is the islet, the Mouls, and the rocks Newland and 
Gullard, tenanted by sea-birds. 

Egloshayle. — This parish is separated from St. Breock 
by the river Camel, which becomes navigable at Slade's 
Bridge. 

The town of Wadebridge is partly in Egloshayle, and 
partly in St. Breock : it is connected by a bridge of seventeen 
arches, built in the time of Edward IV. Cromwell secured 
this pass in 1645. 

There is a railway from Wadebridge to Bodmin, in length 
6 1 miles. 

The church lies on the banks of the Camel, the tides 
washing the churchyard. Its fine tower was built by Thomas 
Lovibond, vicar of Egloshayle about 1490, who was also 
the chief instrument in building the bridge. In the north 
aisle is an old stone pulpit. The great tithes belong to the 
sub-dean of Exeter Cathedral. 

Pencarrow is the seat of Sir William Molesworth. 

Castle Killibury and Kelly Rounds are rude earthworks ; 
the former enclosing a space of six acres with a triple ditch. 

"VVashaway is a village in Egloshayle. 



OF CORNWALL. 



147 



V.~ HUNDRED OF LESNEWTH. 



The Hundred of Lesnewth contains seventeen parishes : 



Poundstock. 
St. Gennys. 
St. Juliot. 
Otterham. 
"Warbstow. 
Treneglos. 



St. Clether. 

Alternon. 

Laneast, part of. 

Davidstow. 

Lesnewth. 

Minster. 



Forrabury. 

Trevalga. 

Tintagel. 

Lanteglos. 

Advent. 

Michaelstow. 



Much of this district is covered by large uncultivated 
moorlands: it is scantily supplied with wood: the high 
grounds are bleak and bare. The soil is growan, mixed with 
slate. There are no mines of note. 

Poundstock. — Poundstock seems to have derived its 
name from an ancient manor mentioned in Domesday Book, 
and called Ponpestock. It has Marhamchurch north \ Week 
St. Mary east ; Jacobstow and St. Gennys south ; and the 
sea west. 

Woolston, in this parish, pays tithes to Minster. 

St. Gennys. — In Domesday Book no mention is made 
of this parish. The district is taxed under the name of 
Otterham. Afterwards it is spoken of under the names of 
St. Genisey, St. Gennis, and St. Jennis. 

The church is dedicated to St. Genesius. He is that 
famous saint in the Romish calendar who was beheaded with 
his two brothers, and is fabled to have walked about, after his 
execution, with his head under his arm. 

It is bounded west by the sea ; north by Poundstock ,• 
east by Jacobstow ; south by Otterham and St. Juliot. 

There were formerly two chapels in this parish ; one 
called St. Gregory's, and the other St. Julietta's. 

In this parish is a bold promontory called the Dazard 
Head, and another called Carnbeak, forming the west point 



148 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

of Tremoutha Haven, The coast scenery is very romantic. 

On Tresparrot Down,, a desolate heath, 850 feet above 
the level of the sea, a singular species of rock is found. 

The manor of Treworgye, part of the possessions of the 
priory of Launceston, was annexed to the Duchy by Henry 
VIII. It was the residence of "William Braddon, an officer 
of the Parliamentary army, and a member of the House of 
Commons. He was buried in the chancel of the church, 
and from this circumstance, and from the allusion in these 
lines of his epitaph, 

" In war and peace I bore command, 
Both Gown and Sword I wore," 

it has been supposed he was vicar of St. Gennys. He was 
probably one of Cromwell's fighting chaplains. 

St. Juliot. — St. Juliot, commonly called St. Jilt, lies 
between Otterham and the sea ; having St. Gennys north, 
and Lesnewth south of it. 

It is probable that St. Juliot's was anciently only a 
chapelry of St. Gennys, as mention is made of a chapel of 
St. Julietta in St. Gennys. 

The stipend of the incumbent of this parish has been 
augmented by Queen Anne's Bounty Fund. The sum of 
^400 was laid out in the purchase of a tenement called 
Caneer, in the neighbouring parish of Otterham ; to this 
also was added a part of the tenement of Penpoll, in the 
parish of Lesnewth. 

Otterham. — Otterham has St. Gennys north, David- 
stow south, Warbstow east, and St. Juliot west. 

It is a very thinly peopled parish in proportion to its 
size, containing more than 2000 acres of land, and not 200 
inhabitants. 

There is a manor mentioned in Domesday Book by the 
name of Othram, one of the 288 manors given to the Earl 
o f Moreton by William the Conqueror. Probably from this 
manor the parish is named. 



OP CORNWALL. 149 

Warbstow. — Warbstow is bounded by Treneglos, Tre- 
maine, Jacobstow, St. Gennys, Otterham, and Davidstow. 

A small part of this parish is severed from the main 
body by Tremaine and Jacobstow. 

The true name of the parish is St. Werburghstow, which 
means the place of St. Werburgh. The cathedral church of 
Chester is dedicated to this saint. The church is consoli- 
dated with Treneglos, and included in the same presentation. 

There is a fine old fortification in this parish, called 
Warbstow Barrows, 820 feet above the sea. It includes about 
four acres of land, and in the middle of this area is an 
oblong tumulus, called the Giant's Grave. 

Treneglos. — Treneglos is a small parish, bounded on 
the north by Warbstow, east by Tremaine and Tresmere, 
south by Laneast and St. Clether, and west by Davidstow. 

The manor of Downeckney belonged soon after the 
Conquest to Richard, who was Steward of the King's House- 
hold at the time of Domesday survey. He gave the church 
of Treneglos to the Prior of Tywardreath. It is now in the 
patronage of the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall, 
and forms one benefice with Warbstow. 

St. Clether. — Philip Cornwallis, Archdeacon of Win- 
chester, endowed a chapel in the churchyard of St. Austell, 
called Menacuddle, with the church of St. Clether. 

The great tithes of this parish are annexed to the church 
of St. Thomas by Launceston, having been purchased with 
Queen Anne's Bounty. 

In this parish, or partly in Davidstow, is Foys-fenton, 
the source of the river Fowey. This well in old records is 
called West-fenton, the West-well, to distinguish it from 
Markwell in St. Erney, called also Eastwell. These wells 
are supposed to give their names to the Hundreds and Dean- 
eries of East and West, which were formerly called East- 
wellshire and Westwellshire. 

Basil, in this parish, was for ages the seat of the hon- 



150 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

ourable family of Trevelyan. In the reign of Edward IV 
they settled at Nettlecombe, in Somerset. Amongst the 
ruins of the house is a very large moorstone oven, now used 
as a pig's-house, and capable of sheltering twelve full-grown 
pigs. 

The arms of Trevelyan are, A white horse, issuing from 
the sea : and are said to have been given in memorial of the 
exploit of an ancestor of the family, who, when his lands in 
the Lyonness were suddenly overflowed by the Atlantic, 
mounted his horse, and swam through the waves in safety. 

Of one of the Trevelyans it is told, that when the sheriff 
of Cornwall surrounded his house with an armed force to 
make him prisoner, he drove them from their purpose by 
overturning some hives, and letting loose the swarms of bees 
upon them. 

Alter non. — Alternon, or Altarnun, is the largest par- 
ish in Cornwall, containing 15,014 acres. 

The church lies in a valley, with the highest tower in 
the county, except Probus; it has at times been greatly 
injured by lightning. 

The parish is named from St. Nun or Nonnet, who is 
thought to have been born and buried here. 

The water of St. Nun's well was famous in the cure of 
madness. The patient was placed backwards near a pool 
into which the waters of the well flowed ; and then, with a 
sudden blow, was tumbled headlong into the water, wherein 
he was plunged again and again, as long as life could endure. 

The village of Five Lanes is in this parish. 

Trelawne, in this parish, was the original seat of the 
Trelawny family, who afterwards resided in Menheniot and 
Pelynt. It was the residence of Sir John Trelawny, the com- 
panion of Henry V. 

A.t Bolventor, in the south of the parish, a chapel has 
been built, and an ecclesiastical district assigned, part of 
^hich is, in St. Nee*. 



OP CORNWALL. 151 

Peter Jowle, clerk of Alternon, lived to the age of 150, 
and in his 100th year had a new set of teeth, and his hair 
became again black. 

The river Fowey is a partial boundary between Alternon 
and St. Neot. 

Davidstow. — This parish extends from Lesnewth and 
Otterham southward to the moors near Roughtor. 

It is named from David, Archbishop of Menevia, in 
Wales, and uncle of King Arthur : he is the patron saint of 
the Welsh, and seems to have been a man of great piety and 
learning. 

There were once three chapels standing in this parish, 
dedicated to St. Augustine, St. Ellen, and St. Michael : but 
their sites are unknown. 

The seat of the large manor of Treglasta is in David- 
stow, though the manor itself lies chiefly in Alternon. 

There is gold in the granite on Davidstow Moors. 

Lesnewth. — Lesnewth gives its name to the Hundred 
in which it lies. 

It is surrounded by Forrabury, Minster, St. Juliot, and 
Davidstow. 

The manor is called Lisniwen in Domesday Book, and 
belonged to the Earl of Moreton. 

Minster. — Minster is a long straggling parish, just 
touching the sea at one point, and bounded by Forrabury, 
Trevalga, Tintagel, Lanteglos, Davidstow, Lesnewth, and St. 
Juliot. 

It takes its name from a house of French monks, estab- 
lished at Tolcarne by William de Bottreaux, in the time of 
Richard I, which was probably broken up by one of the 
English Kings when at war with France j for a statute was 
passed in Richard the Second's reign, which disabled all 
foreign priests from holding spiritual offices in England. 

At Worthyvale, in this parish, was fought a battle be- 
g 5 



162 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

tween King Arthur and his rebellions nephew Mordred, in 
which King Arthur was wounded to the death. 

A bridge near the site of the battle, is called Slaughter- 
Bridge. At this spot Egbert defeated the united forces of 
Cornish and Danes. 

Minster church has no tower ; it lies in a deep valley. 
Near it are ruins of monastic buildings. 

A small part of the town of Boscastle is in this parish : 
the larger part being in Forrabury. 

A granite pillar, formerly lying as a foot-bridge over the 
Camel, but now erect in the grounds of Worthyvale House , 
bears this inscription, cotin hic jacet filius magari. 

Forrabury. — This is one of the four smallest parishes 
in the county, not containing a square mile. 

The greater part of the town of Boscastle, and all the 
harbour, are in Forrabury. Boscastle took its name from the 
castle erected here by the lords of Bottreaux, in the days of 
the first Plantagenets. Not a stone of this famous building 
remains: its site is probably a grassy mount, called the 
Court. The last Lord of Bottreaux was slain in the battle of 
St. Albans. 

The town lies in a ravine, surrounded by mountain 
heights, rocky and picturesque. The ruined chapel of St. 
James stood near the market-place. The harbour is confined 
and unsafe, but there is a small pier, and its trade, from its 
being the only port for many miles on the coast, is consider- 
able. Its imports are lime, coals, and Bristol-waies. 

Bottreaux church stands on a hill near the sea : its win- 
dows are protected by shutters from the violence of the winds. 
It has no bells; but, according to tradition, bells were bought 
and brought to Boscastle by sea, but the vessel containing 
them was lost in sight of shore. 

Willapark Point is a rugged headland crowned with the 
ruins of a tower. Below the cliffs the sea has worn passages 
four or five hundred yards in length, into which the £ shermen 



OF CORNWALL. 153 

go in boats with torches to kill seals. Goats browze on the 
rocky heights, and choughs build here. 

There is a quarry near the sea, from which slate is drawn 
up over the cliffs. 

Forrabury and Minster form but one parish in respect of 
the assessment of taxes. 

Trevalga. — Trevalga is a small parish, between Forra- 
bury, Minster, Tintagel, and the sea. 

Tintagel. — This parish has borne at different times, 
the different names of Dundagel, Dunecheine, and Dundiogel. 

Tintagel is famous for its " marvellous stronge and not- 
able fortress." On the top of a high, rugged crag on the 
coast, its grand and shattered fragments stand : it was built 
of slate, and was probably a Roman fortress : the cement be- 
tween the stones is harder than the stone itself. Part of the 
castle was built on a rock, severed from the mainland by a 
deep chasm, over which was a draw-bridge. On this island of 
rock are the remains of a chapel, and within lies a sculptured 
stone. There is a fine spring of water on the rock, and a 
subterranean passage to the sea. 

This castle of Tintagel is the reputed birth-place of the 
renowned King Arthur ; it is likely he died here also. After 
the Conquest, it was the occasional residence of some of our 
Princes ; Richard, King of the Romans, entertained here his 
nephew David, Prince of Yfales ; by Richard II it was made 
a state-prison, and John Northampton, Lord Mayor of Lon- 
don, was confined here ; and afterward Thomas, Earl of 
Warwick. After the death of the last Earl of Cornwall, all 
the ancient castles went to ruin. A yearly sum was allowed 
by the crown for keeping up Tintagel Castle, but in the reign 
of Elizabeth, the further payment of it was forbidden by the 
Lord Treasurer Burleigh. 

Bossiney, Bosithney, or Trevenna, is a little fishing-town 
with a small harbour : it sent two members to Parliament 



154 PAROCfilAL GEOGKAPHT 

from the time of Edward VI, till 1832. Sir Francis Drake 
once represented it. 

In the deep and rocky vale of Trevillet, is a fine fall of 
water, called St. Nigh ton's Kieve. Near it are the crumbling 
walls of a small building, once tenanted by two ancient and 
unknown ladies, who died there. 

This parish is wild and open, ravaged by westerly tem- 
pests. 

Lanteglos by Camelford. — This parish is so named 
to distinguish it from Lanteglos by Fowey. A small portion 
on the N/YV. is severed from the main part by Minster and 
St. Teath. 

The ancient borough of Camelford is in this parish ; it 
was part of the possession of the Earls of Cornwall, and is 
rendered famous as being near the site of two severe battles, 
one between Prince Arthur and his nephew Mordred, in 542, 
and another between the Britons and Saxons, in 823. 

Camelford lies in a vale on the banks of the river Camel 
or Alan, which rises at the foot of Roughtor, about three 
miles north of the town, and passing Camelford in a circuit- 
ous course, Sows southward, and falls into the sea at "Wade- 
bride. 

Camelford sent two members to Parliament from the 
reign of Edward VI till 1832 ; it was then disfranchised. 
Sir Charles Scarborough, the celebrated physician, and James 
Macpherson, the editor of Ossian, were among the represen- 
tatives of this borough. 

From its nearness to Roughtor and Brownwilly, the 
highest hills- in Cornwall, it is said that more rain falls at 
Camelford than in any other town in the county. 

The church of Lanteglos is large and handsome ; it is a 
mile and a half from Camelford; there was anciently a chapel 
of St. Thomas within the borough. 

The tenement of Tregarth, valued at £40 a year, was 
bequeathed in 1679by Sir James Smith, for the erecting of a 
school-house, and maintenance of a school, 



OF CORNWALL. 15-5 

The nilanor of Helston in this parish, (called Helston in 
Trigg, to distinguish it from Helston in Earlier), has from 
time immemorial belonged to the Duchy. 

The deer-park of Helsbury, extending into this parish, 
was disparked by Henry VIII. 

The Rev. William Phillips, Rector of Lanteglos, in 1759, 
cut with his own hands the figures on the granite milestones, 
now standing on the Camelford road. 

Advent. — Advent is commonly called St. Anne, or St. 
Tane : it was anciently known by the name of St. Andewin 
or Athewyn. 

It is one of the twelve parishes that surround the small 
parish of Temple, and form the district called the Moors. 

Advent is a daughter church of Lanteglos, both parishes 
forming one rectory. 

Trethyn was a place of note during Cromwell's usurpa- 
tion : Sir Samuel Rolle took refuge here* 

The deer-park of Helsbury extended into this parish ; 
no vestige of its ancient enclosure remains. 

Michaelstow. — Michaelstow is a small parish on the 
southern side of Advent, in the Deanery of Trigg Minor. 

The manor of Helston in Trigg covers a large part of 
this parish, and includes in it Helsbury park, once full ol 
deer. St. Syth's Beacon is an earthwork, rising to a great 
height, and may have been the site of Helsbury castle, and 
the chapel which is recorded to have stood here. 



VI.— HUNDRED OF POWDER. 



This Hundred is the largest of the nine Hundreds of 
Cornwall ; it occupies the middle part of the county. The 
western parts are chiefly mining districts ; the northern side 



ti6 



PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 



is waste and wild ; the southern mild and fertile, 
thirty-eight parishes, in three divisions : 

EAST DIVISION. 



It contains 



Lostwithiel. 


Roche. 


Gorran. 


Lanlivery. 


St. Blazey. 


St.MichaelCar- 


St. Sampsons. 


St. Austeil. 


hayes. 


Tywardreath. 


St. Mewan. 


St. Stephens in 


Fowey. 


St. Ewe. 


Brannel. 


Luxulian. 


Mevagissey. 
^VEST DIVISION. 

tf art I. 


St. Dennis. 


Ladock. 


St. Mary's, Truro. 


Feock, 


St. Erme. 


Kenwyn. 


St.Michael Pen- 


St. Allen. 


Kea. 


kivel. 


St. Clements. 


idavt Ih 




Lamorran. 


Cuby. 


St. Justin Rose- 


Merther. 


St.JamesTregoney 


land. 


Cornelly. 


Very an. 


Gerrans. 


Probus. 


Ruanlanihorne. 


St. Anthony in 


Creed. 


Philleigh. 


Roseland. 



Lostwithiel. — Lostwithiel, or Lestwidiel, is the second 
smallest parish in the county, containing 118 acres. It is 
enclosed by Lanlivery and St. Winnow, into which parishes 
the town of Lostwithiel extends. 

The Fowey divides the town into two unequal parts. The 
silver-oar jurisdiction of the borough extends over the river 
to Pontius Cross, at the mouth of Fowey Harbour. 

Lostwithiel has been always closely connected with 
Restormel Castle. Henry III gave it to his nephew Richard, 
Earl of Cornwall; Edward III bestowed it on his son Ed- 
Ward, who, dying before his father, left it to his widow ; 
Richard II granted it to his half-brother, Thomas, Earl of 
Kent ; his son, Thomas, Duke of Surrey, was beheaded by 
Henry IV, who gave Lostwithiel to his brother-in-law, John- 
Lord Fanhope ; since this time it has descended in order to 



Of CORNWALL. lo7 

the Dukes of Cornwall. During the Earldom of Edmund, 
who lived at Restormel Castle, in 1272, Lostwithiel seems to 
have been the chief town in the county. He ordained that 
the coinage and sale of tin should be held at Lostwithiel only/ 
and built handsome halls for public business. The Arch- 
deacon's Court, the Assizes, Sessions, County Elections, 
Stannary Parliament and Court, were at one time all held at 
Lostwithiel : all have been removed. It was also deprived of its 
rights of election in 1832. From 1304 it had sent two mem- 
bers to Parliament; Addison the poet represented it in 1704. 

The navigation of the river is much barred with sand ; 
the scenery on its banks from Lostwithiel to Fowey is very 
beautiful. 

In August, 1644, Lostwithiel was the head-quarters of 
Essex's army ; but, hemmed in by the King on all sides, on 
August 31 he was forced to retire towards Fowey, and the 
next day, deserting his troops, fled by sea to Plymouth. 
Their horse in the dark night made their way through the 
King's army on Braddock Downs; the foot surrendered the 
next day at Fowey. While in Lostwithiel, they turned the 
church into a stable, and blew up part of it with gunpowder ; 
they plundered the Exchequer Hall, and burnt the Stannary 
records, then in manuscript. It was at Lostwithiel that the 
King, taking leave of Sir Francis Basset, said, " Mr. Sheriff) 
I leave the county entirely at peace in your hands." 

The church is dedicated to St. Bartholomew, and con- 
tains a memorial, in alabaster, of the flaying of that saint ; 
the spire is very graceful ; the font is large, of freestone, 
rudely carved in figures of singular device. 

The Shire Hall and Stannary Prison are still standing. 

Lanlivery. — Lanlivery lies between Lostwithiel and 
Luxulian, having the Fowey for its eastern boundary. It 
includes part of the town and borough of Lostwithiel. 

The ruins of Restormel Castle, covered with ivy, and 
surrounded with trees, rise from an artificial mount on the 
banks of the Fowey, about a mile north from Lostwithiel, 



158 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

When or by whom it was built there is no record to reveal : 
the Cardinhams and Traceys were early occupants of it, and 
Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, resided here before 1300. In the 
time of Henry VIII it was " unroofed and sore defaced": 
being repaired and garrisoned by the Parliament, it was 
stormed and taken for the King by Sir Richard Grenville. 
Restormel gave the title of Baron to Thomas, Lord Erskine. 

Pelyn, on the west bank of the Fowey, is the ancient in- 
heritance of the family of Kendall. 

The church of Lanlivery has a noble tower : it is some- 
times called Lanvorell. 

The western side of the parish is wild and open, and 
covered with masses of granite. 

There is an iron mine under Restormel Castle, which 
was visited by Her Majesty Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, 
in September, 1846. 

St. Sampsons. — St. Sampsons is generally called by its 
more ancient name of Golant. It is bounded by Lanlivery, 
Tywardreath, and Fowey ; and is separated by the Fowey 
river from St. Winnow and St. Veep. 

In the church porch is a well of water ; and round the 
roof of the aisles ancient Latin inscriptions cut in wood. 

The river is fordable at low tides from Golant village to 
St. Veep. 

Westward is the old entrenchment of Castle Dore, ad- 
joining Mount Dwen. 

Penquite is in the Rashleigh family. 

King Charles I slept in his carriage, near Castle Dore, 
all Saturday night, August 31, 1644, when he had hemmed 
in Essex's army, which surrendered to him next day. His 
handkerchief and clasps were preserved at Penquite. 

Tywardreath. — Tywardreath lies on the east side of 
Par Harbour. Its southern point is the Greben Head, and 
off it is the Carnnis Rock. 

The district of Par comprises part of this parish. 



OF CORNWALL. 159 

There was formerly a large priory in Tywardreatli, of 
which there are no remains. 

Lanescot, Fowey Consols, and other large mines are in 
this parish. 

Menabilly is the ancient inheritance of the family of 
Rashleigh. It contains a rare and valuable collection of 
minerals : here also are preserved many old British and 
Roman relics, as urns and coins, dug out of barrows ; and 
mining tools, found in the stream-works, made of holly, oak, 
and boxwood ; with two links of iron, fished up out of Fowey 
Harbour, and supposed to be part of the great chain formerly 
fastened across its mouth to prevent the entrance of the 
enemy's vessels. 

In this parish are the villages of Tregaminion and Pol- 
kerris : there is a chapel at Tregaminion. 

A tower stands on the Greben Head, erected by the 
Trinity Board for a land-mark in 1832, and since struck by 
lightning. 

Fowey. — This parish is separated from Lanteglos by 
the river Fowey ; but the borough of Fowey extends into the 
parish of Lanteglos. 

In 1340, the ports of Fowey and Looe sent a representa- 
tive to a council at Westminster. In 1347, Fowey supplied 
47 ships for the service of Edward III, in the siege of Calais, 
being a larger number than was furnished by any other port 
in England; these vessels were manned by 770 mariners, 
being more men than any other place supplied, except Yar- 
mouth. "The shippes of Fowey sayling by Rhie and Win- 
chelsey, about Edward the Illrd tyme, would vaile no bonnet 
beying required, whereupon Rhie and Winchelsey men and 
they fought, when Fowey men had victorie, and thereupon 
bare their arms mixt with the arms of Rhie and Winchelsey, 
and then rose the name of the Gallants of Fowey.'' The 
Fowey sailors entering the French ports, kept the coast in 
constant alarm ; in retaliation, a large body of French vessels 
sailed into Fowey Harbour secretly by night, and sacked and 



160 ParociiIal geography 

fired the town, but were repulsed in an attack on Place 
House. In the reign of Edward IV the Fowey men, grown 
rich with piracy and trade, in a time of peace, and against 
the King's commandment, assailed the French at sea ; 
whereupon the captains of the ships of Fowey were sent 
prisoners to London, one of their burgesses was executed, 
and the men of Dartmouth, by the King's order, came to 
their port, and took away their ships, carrying off also the 
great iron chain which was drawn across the mouth of the 
haven, and which had been placed there only in that same year. 
In the reign of Charles II a fleet of merchantmen, 
chased by eighty Dutch ships of war, took refuge in the har* 
bour, and the Fowey men beat off the Dutchmen with the 
guns of their little towers. 

Fowey returned two members to Parliament from the 
time of Elizabeth, till it was disfranchised in the reign of 
William IV. 

The harbour is safe and commodious ; the river is naviga- 
ble nearly to Lostwithiel Bridge. 

The church is a noble structure, with a lofty tower ; it 
contains record-tables of many generous benefactions to the 
parish of Fowey. It is said that Finbarrus, first Bishop of 
Cork, was buried here. 

Place House is the seat of the family of Treffry : it is a 
majestic building, and contains the finest specimens of Cor- 
nish granite and porphyry. In the grounds of Place is an 
ancient statue of Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Treffry, who, in 
the absence of her husband, headed his men, and beat off the 
French in an assault on Place House, in July, 1457. 

In the end of August, 1644, the town was taken by Essex, 
but held only a short time ; for on Sunday, September 1, 
having proposed a parley, he took ship with Lord Robartes 
and others, and escaped to Plymouth. His general, Shippen, 
surrendered on the same day with 6000 men. Fowey re- 
mained in the King's hands till March, 1646, when it was 
given up to Fairfax. 



OF CORNY.' ALL. 101 

Hugh Peters, Cromwell's mad chaplain, was a native of 
Fowey ; he was hanged for high treason in London, in 1660. 

In September^ 1846, Her Majesty Queen Victoria visited 
Fowey. 

At the cross road leading from Lostwithiel stood a 
granite pillar, called the Long- Stone, and hearing a cross 
with these words, " hic jacet cirusius cunowori filius." 

Luxulian. — Luxulian is a parish of wild and hare land, 
strewn with huge blocks of granite. 

In the tower of Luxulian church the charter and records 
of the tinners were formerly kept. 

Prideaux, once belonging to the old family of that name y 
is now the seat of a branch of the Rashleigh family. 

The railway from Newquay to Par passes through the 
parish. 

Tbere are excellent granite quarries in this parish, and 
a singularly romantic rocky valley ; also two logan stones, 
which are sometimes rocked by the wind. 

The stream-works have been carried on from very distant 
times. 

Roche. — Roche was so named probably from its remark- 
able rock. 

Roche Rock is avast mass of granite, standing alone on 
the moor. On its summit are the ruins of St. Michael's 
chapel ; and near its foot the Holy Well. The chapel is 
thought to have been built by the last male heir of Tregar- 
rick, (on which manor the rock lies) who, weary of the world 
and his sins, lived here in solitude and sorrow. 

Part of Hensbarrow, the highest hill in the western 
division of the county, and called the Arch-beacon of Corn- 
wall, is in the parish of Roche. 

St. Blazey. — St. Blazey, ancienty Landreath, is bound- 
ed by Tywardreath, Luxulian, and St. Austell. 

The church, formerly held with St. Austell, is now a dis- 



\G2 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

tinct benefice. Part of the district of Biscovey is in this 
parish. 

In the southern part of the parish is Par, a harbour 
with much land recovered from the sea. There is a railway 
from Newquay on the north coast to Par. 

Tregrehan is in this parish, belonging to the Carlyon 
family. 

St. Blaze was a good bishop, who taught the British the 
art of wool-combing. 

Ralph Allen, the friend of Pope, was the son of a small 
innkeeper in St. Blazey. 

St. Austell. — This large parish extends from Roche 
southwards to the sea. 

Hensburrow is a hill at the extreme northern boundary, 
1034 feet above the level of the sea. At the beacon on this 
hill the parishes of Roche and St. Austell meet. 

The church of St. Blazey was severed from St. Austell 
in 1845. Treverbyn in the north, Charlestown in the east, 
and Biscovey, partly in St. Austell and partly in St. Blazey, 
are new ecclesiastical parishes. 

The town is of modern origin, and owes its existence to 
the neighbourhood of mines. The parish contains many tin 
and copper mines, and numerous stream-works. 

The tower of the church is high and handsome ; and 
richly carved. There was a chapel in the churchyard endowed 
with the church of St. C leather. 

At Mennacuddle is a ruined chapel with a well in the 
floor, and near it a fine fall of water. 

Charlestown, formerly called Porthmear, received its 
present name from Charles Rashleigh, Esq., who formed the 
harbour. 

Penrice has been for several centuries the seat of the 
Sawles. Duporth is in this parish. 

On St. Austell or Gwallen Downs are many ancient 
barrows, from one of which a large urn, nine inches in diam- 



OF CORNWALL. 163 

eter, was dug up. At Trewiddle was found a silver goblet, 
containing Anglo-Saxon coins. 

The tin mine of Carclaze, which is open to this day, 
and has been worked for 400 years, is in this parish. 

Samuel Drew, a native of St. Austell, wrote on the im- 
mortality of the body and soul : he also wrote a history of 
Cornwall. 

Tn the town-pavement is a flat stone called "Men-gu," 
on which a witch was said to have been burnt : bargains were 
made and proclamations read over it. 

There is a small worsted manufactory in the town. A 
railway runs from St. Austell to the Pentuan stream- works. 
Near Pentuan are ancient quarries of fine freestone. 

On Hill Head, about a mile from the town of St. Austell, 
is seen on winter nights a singular phosphoric, or electric 
light, which hovers over a fixed spot, and is visible at a dis- 
tance, but cannot be seen by persons standing near. 

In this parish the valuable earth, called china-clay, is 
found in large quantities : it is used in the manufacture of 
porcelain and fine earthenware, and is shipped from Charles- 
town for the potteries of Staffordshire. 

St. Mewan. — St. Mewan is bounded by St. Austell, St. 
Ewe, St. Stephens, Roche, and Creed. 

The great Polgooth mine is in this parish ; so is the 
celebrated tin mine of Hewas, in which gold has been found, 
with remains of Phoenician workings. 

St. Mewan Beacon is a hill crowned with a mass of 
granite crags. 

St. Ewe. — Heligan, the seat of the family of Tremayne, 
is in this parish. 

Tregonnon, Lansladron, Trevithick, and Luney, are 
ancient houses in St. Ewe. 

Mevagissey.— Mevagissey is a small parish on the 
coast, between Gorran and St. Austell. 



164 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

It was anciently called Lamorrack, and Laverack, and 
has been for many years famous for its pilchard fisheries. 

On the south side is Port Mellyn, a fishing cove, partly 
in this parish and Gorran. 

The church tower is fallen. 

The town of Mevagissey suffered severely in the cholera 
of 1849. 

Pentuan Cove has a pier for the shipping of the Pen- 
tuan sandstone, &c ; and hence is a railway to St Austell. 

Penwarne was the inheritance of the brave John Carew, 
called the one-handed Carew, a son of Richard Carew, the 
historian of Cornwall. He lost his right hand by a cannon 
shot at the siege of Ostend, in 1601 ; and returning to his 
quarters in the evening, held out the shattered limb in his 
left hand, saying, " There is the hand that cut the pudding 
in the morning.' ' He afterwards used a wooden hand with 
joints, which is still preserved. 

Gorran. — Gorran is bounded by Mevagissey, St. Ewe, 
and St. Michael Carhayes. 

The Deadman, the boldest headland in the channel, is 
in this parish. The rock which forms the point is so perpen- 
dicular, and the water near it so deep, that a vessel may sail 
in safety within a few feet of it. 

Gorran Haven, or Port East, is a fishing-town : here are 
remains of an old chapel. 

Trevenen and Polsue are seats in Gorran. Bodrigan, 
having been forfeited by the attainder of Sir Henry de Bod- 
rigan, in the reign of Henry VII, has since continued, in 
uninterrupted succession, with the family of the Earls of 
Mount Edgcumbe. Bodrigan was the most magnificent 
mansion in the county. 

Near the Deadman is a wastrel called "Woeful Moor," 
on which, it is said, Sir Henry Bodrigan, driven from his 
castle by Sir Richard Edgcumbe, made a last stand for his 
}ife ; being defeated, he fled to the edge of the cliff, at a 



OF CORNWALL, 1G'5 

place still called " Bodrigan's Leap," and sprang desperately 
down a hundred feet into the sea ; but, falling on the sand, 
received so little harm, that he was able to get into a boat 
lying near, and reach a vessel, which conveyed him to France. 

St. Michael Carhayes. — St. Michael Carhayes is a 
small parish at the head of Veryan Bay, between Veryan and 
Gorran. 

The walls of the church are hung with helmets, swords, 
and gauntlets, which belonged to the Trevanion family : and 
amongst these is the sword worn by Sir Hugh Trevanion, at 
the battle of Bosworth-field, where he was made a knight- 
banneret by Henry VII. 

Carhayes Castle is the seat of the Trevanions. It was 
rebuilt at the beginning of the century, but being deserted, is 
falling into decay ; its situation is very beautiful, on Portluny 
Bay. 

The benefice is both a rectory and vicarage, and includes 
the churches of St. Stephens in Brannel and St Dennis. 

St. Stephens in Brannel. — This parish is noted for the 
production of a mineral clay, valuable in the manufacture of 
china and porcelain. 

There are mines and stream- works in the parish. Several 
large houses, at one time occupied by families of consequence, 
are now common dwelling-houses. 

It is called St. Stephens in Brannel to distinguish it 
from St. Stephens by Launceston, and St. Stephens by 
Saltash. 

The long parish of St. Ewe, with the angles of Creed 
and St. Mewan, severs it from the mother church of St. 
Michael Carhayes. 

St. Dennis. — St. Dennis is a daughter church of St, 
Michael Carhayes. The church stands on a conical hill. 

Robert Dunken, incumbent of St. Dennis, was ejected 
by the Puritans, but lived to be restored. He wrote against 
Milton, 



166 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

The bowels of this parish have been turned inside out 
hi search of tin. 

WEST DIVISION. 

$art I. 

Ladock.— Ladock or Lazzick, a parish of very irregular 
shape, is bounded by Probus, St. Stephens, St. Enoder, New- 
lyn, and St. Erme. 

TrethurfFe house has been destroyed. The Rev. St. John 
Eliot, rector of this parish and St. Mary's, Truro, founded 
the exhibitions at the Truro Grammar School, and amongst 
many other benefactions to various places, left £5 a year to 
the school of Ladock. 

The parish of Ladock includes one of the most beauti- 
ful valleys in Cornwall. 

St. Erme. — A detached part of this parish, near Tre- 
silian Bridge, is severed from the main body of the parish 
by St. Clements and Probus. 

Truthan, and Killigrew, the original seat of the family 
so named, are in St. Erme. 

St. Allen. — St Allen is bounded by Perranzabuloe, 
Newlyn, St. Erme, St. Clements, and Kenwyn. 

The manor of Gwarnick extends over the parish. The 
house and chapel w r ere destroyed at the end of the last cen- 
tury. Here are the lead mines of Garras. 

St. Clements. — A small portion of this parish, along 
the river, forms part of the town and borough of Truro, and 
contains St. Paul's chapel of ease, it was anciently called 
Moresk. 

Condurra House, on Tresilian Lake, is said to have been 
the residence of the Saxon Earl Condurra, who submitted to 
the authority of "William the Conqueror. 

Pencalenick, Polwhele, Penhellick, and Tregols, are in 
this parish. 



©* CORNWALL. 167 

Near Malpas was found a large number of coins of 
Severus, Valerian, and other Roman Emperors. 

A sepulchral stone served for a gate-post to a field in 
this parish, having these words cut upon it, "isniocus vi- 

TALIS FILIUS TORRICl". 

St. Mary's, Truro. — This small parish, containing only 
ISO acres, is situated in the centre of the town of Truro, 
surrounded by Kenwyn and St. Clements. 

Truro is the largest, most populous, and best built town 
in the county. It lies in a valley, and extends over the whole 
of the parish of St. Mary's, and part of Kenwyn on the north, 
west, and south, and of St. Clements on the east : the largest 
portion being in Kenwyn. The two little rivers Kenwyn and 
Allen flow through the town into a creek of the Fal : the first 
separates St. Mary's from St. Clements, the latter St. Mary's 
from Kenwyn. The water of these streams is carried through 
the streets by open conduits. 

Truro was anciently called Treru, Treveru, and Triuru. 
By William I it was given to Robert, Earl of Cornwall: in 
-Stephen's reign, it was held by Richard de Lucy, Chief Jus- 
tice of England, who lived in the castle, and procured a 
charter for the townsmen. Reginald Fitzroy, son of Henry 
I, bestowed on it many valuable privileges. Henry II, Edward 
I, and John, renewed the charter, and Elizabeth confirmed 
that ancient right which the mayor of Truro had exercised 
from early times, of levying dues on all goods laden or un^ 
laden in any part of the river Fal, from Truro to the Black 
Rock. Falmouth, as it grew in importance, refused to allow 
this claim, and in 1709, by trial in law, established a right of 
jurisdiction over its own waters. 

Truro has returned two members to Parliament since 
1294. The borough was formerly confined to St. Mary's parish 
and part of Kenwyn ; it now includes the whole town and neigh- 
bourhood. At the election of the mayor of Truro, the lord 
iof the manor claimed possession of the mace, and held it ia 

H 



168 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

his hands, until sixpence was paid to him by every house- 
holder in the town. Another old custom in going over the 
water-hounds of the borough was, that on reaching the ex- 
treme limits of its jurisdiction, the mayor, town-clerk, and 
others, went on shore, and a writ for nine hundred and ninety- 
nine pounds, nineteen shillings and eleven-pence three 
farthings was produced, issued against some appointed person 
of the company, who was immediately arrested by the bailiff 
of the borough, and not released until two of the party had 
offered themselves for bail. 

The castle of Truro, of which there are no remains, stood 
at the head of Pydar street ; on its site the cattle -market is 
now held. 

The church of St. Mary's is large, in late perpendicular: 
the spire is of debased architecture. The burial-ground of 
the parish of St. Mary's is outside the town, in the parish of 
Kenwyn : in the churchyard is a chapel of ease. The 
church of St. John's is built in the Italian style ; it stands at 
the head of Lemon street, in the parish of Kenwyn. An 
alms-house in Pydar street for ten poor widows, was founded 
and endowed with lands by Henry Williams, woollen-draper, 
in 1631. 

The grammar-school has for many years taken a high 
position, but is meanly endowed : attached to it are two exhi- 
bitions at Exeter College, Oxford, of £30 a year. 

Foote the comedian, and Polwhele the historian, were 
born in Truro : the two Landers, the faithful attendants of 
Clapperton in his expedition into Africa to discover the 
scarce and course of the Niger, were also natives of this town. 
Tirey pursued the search after Clapperton's death, and to the 
memory of F.ichard, who was killed in Africa, a granite 
eoionn is erected on the hill at the southern end of Lemon 
ctrect. In St. Mary's church is the monument of Owen 
Fhippen, a brother of one of the rectors, who was taken 
prisoner by the Turks and kept a slave in Algiers for seven 
years: he made many attempts for his liberty, and at length, 



OP CORNWALL. 169 

with the aid of ten other Christian captives, Dutch and 
French, began a cruel fight with sixty-five Turks in their own 
ship, which lasted three hours, and in which five of his com- 
panions were slain. Yet God made him to conquer, and he 
brought the ship safely to Spain, where the King, struck with 
his bravery, offered him riches and honour, if he would turn 
papist : but he refused to sell the pure faith of his church for 
gold. 

From its position at the head of the main stream of the 
Fal, midway between the north and south seas, and in the 
centre of the mining district, the trade of Truro is great. It 
was the chief of the coinage towns, and from hence a great 
part of the tin raised in the county is exported. The old 
practice, continued through many centuries, of coining tin, 
has of late years been abolished, and the dues to the Duchy 
are otherwise levied : but the Parliament of the Lord- Warden 
of the Stannaries, and the Vice-Warden's Courts, are still 
held here. 

The newspapers published in the county, are the Royal 
Cornwall Gazette and "West Briton, both published in Truro : 
and the Penzance Gazette, and the Cornish Telegraph, pub- 
lished at Penzance. 

There was anciently a religious house of Clares at the 
bottom of Lemon street ; and a Dominican chapel and friary 
on the north of Kenwyn street. 

The town-hall and market is a noble building : over the 
market is inserted this distich : 

" "Who seeks to find eternal treasure, 
Must use no guiie in weight or measure," 

In September, 1642, Sir Ralph Hopton, Sir Beville Gren- 
ville, and Sir John Berkeley came to Truro with the King's 
warrant, and raised a large body of troops for his service. 
On July 10th, 1644, Sir Richard Grenville, having suffered 
some loss in conflict with Essex, at Lostwithiel, retreated 
westward to Truro: but on August 11, again marched east- 
s' 



170 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

ward, and secured Lanhydrock House and Resprin Bridge. 
In 1645, Prince Charles spent part of the autumn and winter 
in Truro. In August, 1649, Sir John Berkeley and Colonel 
Shingsley having come into Cornwall, to induce the county 
to strike a blow against the Parliament for Charles II, were 
taken in Colonel Trevanion's house, and sent prisoners to 
Truro. 



Kenwyn. — This large parish contains the largest part 
of the town of Truro. 

At Blackwater the four Hundreds of Penwith, Kirrier, 
Powder, and Pydar, meet. 

The benefice is held with Kea. 

An aisle in the church is attached to the manor of Treg- 
'avethan. 

The chapelries of St. John's and St. George's, in Truro, 
are formed out of this parish : those of Baldiu, Chacewater, 
and Mithian, partly out of Kenwyn, partly out of Kea. 

That part of Kenwyn called Chacewater is severed from 
the rest of the parish by Kea. 

This parish abounds in mines. 

Kea. — Kea, anciently called Landege, is a large strag- 
gling parish, abounding in mines. 

The new quoad sacra parishes of Chacewater, Mithian, 
and Baldiu, are partly in Kea. 

A new church was built at the beginning of this century 
in the centre of the parish. The tower of the old church on 
the Fal is still standing. 

Tregavethan is a detached part of Kea, lying in Kenwyn. 

The vicarage of Kea is held with Kenwyn, though for- 
merly it was the mother church. 

Killiow, the seat of W. Daubuz, Esq., is in this parish. 
The Four Barrows are tumuli, which contained urns, pro- 
tected by broad stones. 



OF CORNWALL. 171 

Feock. — Feock is separated from Mylor by the Res- 
tronguet or Strangwych Creek ; by the Fal from Philleigh 
and St. Just. 

Below the church is the little port of Pill. 

Trelissick, Porthgwidden, and Killiganoon, are seats in 
this parish. La Feock was the residence of Captain Penrose. 

Devoran is a small trading-place, at the head of Res- 
tronguet Creek : here is a school-room used as a chapel of 
ease. 

At King Harry Passage is the ferry over the Fal. 

St. Michael Penkivel. — St. Michael Penkivel forms 
a tongue of land, stretching south, between two branches of 
the Fal : it is well wooded. 

Tregothnan House, the seat of Viscount Falmouth, 
is in this parish. It stands on a hill above the Fal, and com- 
mands most beautiful views. It is the largest and most 
handsome building in the county. • 

The church is very old, and contains many rich monu- 
ments of the family of Boscawen. In the tower is a small 
chapel. 

There is a ferry from Malpas to St. Michael Penkivel. 

©art M. 

Lamorran. — Lamorran is separated by a creek of the 
Fal from Ruan and Philleigh. 

The manor of Lamorran, once possessed by the family 
of De Halep, is the property of Viscount Falmouth. 

Merther. — Merther is bounded by Probus, Lamorran, 
and St. Michael Penkivel : it is separated by St. Clement's 
Creek from St. Erme and St. Clements. 

Near Tresilian Bridge, in this parish, is the entrance to 
Tregothnan, the seat of Viscount Falmouth. 

In 1616, Lord Hopton, being beaten by Fairfax at Tor- 
rington, in Devon, retired with 3,000 horse to Strattpn, antl 



172 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

thence to Bodmin: at Tresilian Bridge he made a treaty 
with Fairfax, by which his troops were disbanded. 

Tresilian once belonged to the notorious Chief Justice 
Tresilian. It extends into the parishes of Merther, Probus, 
and St. Erme. 

Cornelly. — Cornelly is a small parish, carved out of 
Probus. It lies at the end of Lamorran Creek, and reaches 
to the town of Tregoney. 

Trewarthenick is the seat of the family of Gregor. 

Probus. — Probus is a large and fertile parish, having 
Ladock on the north, and Cornelly and Lamorran on the 
south. 

A navigable creek of the Fal comes up to Tresilian 
Bridge, and receives the Ladock, which separates Probus from 
Merther. 

Cornelly and Merther were anciently chapelries of this 
large parish. 

The tower of Probus church is the highest and most 
noble in the county. It is 125 feet high, built entirely of 
granite, and ornamented with a profusion of carving. It 
was erected by the people of the parish at the beginning of 
the sixteenth century. The titular saints are Probus and Grace. 

Golden was the property of the Tregians : the chapel is 
still standing. Here is shown the cell in which Ctsthbert 
Mayne was concealed : he was a Romish priest, executed in 
the reign of Elizabeth : his skull is preserved at Lanherne, 
with a nail driven through it 

At the time of the Norman Survey there was a college 
in this parish, consisting of a dean and five prebendaries. 
The vicarage-house is still called the Sanctuary. 

Trewithen is the seat of the family of Hawkins. 

The church was held by King Edward the Confessor. 
In 1537, William, suffragan Bishop of Hippo, was vicar of 
Probus* 



OF CORNWALL. 173 

A school was founded by John Williams of Treworgy, 
and endowed with £10 a year. William Williams gave a piece 
of ground for the master's house; and some plate for the 
communion service. Richard Tredenham gave lands, worth 
^22 a year, for the repairs of the church, and for the poor. 

Creed. — Creed was anciently taxed under the name of 
Tybesta : it is separated from Probus by the main stream of 
the Fal. 

The town of Grampound is chiefly in this parish : it sent 
two members to Parliament from the time of Edward VI, but 
was disfranchised for bribery in 1824. The chapel of St 
Naunter in the town, in which divine service was performed on 
Sunday afternoons by the vicar of Creed, till 1815, has fallen 
into ruins. There was a small woollen trade carried on here. 

Cuby. — Cuby contains part of the town of Tregoney. 
It has a detached part, a mill, situate in the body of the little 
parish of Tregoney St. James. 

It is separated by the Fal from Probus and Cornelly. 

Tregoney St. James. — This is the smallest parish in 
Cornwall, containing only 70 acres : it is enclosed by Cuby 
and Cornelly. The old borough of Tregoney, being 20 acres 
in extent, is comprised within it. 

It lies on a hill on the east side of the Fal, which is 
crossed by an ancient bridge cf many arches. 

Tregoney was probably a Roman station, under the name 
of Cenio, and became a place of great trade, the river being 
formerly navigable up to the town. Its bed is now choked 
by the sand from the mines and clay-works. 

Henry I granted to the inhabitants the privilege of send- 
ing two burgesses to Parliament. The Pomeroys were lords 
of Tregoney for many generations, and built a large castle, 
the site of which may still be traced. 

The church of St. James, which was situated in a 
meadow near the river, is entirely destroyed. 



174 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

An almshouse was founded by the Boscawens, and en- 
dowed with an estate in Creed. 

The town extends into the four parishes of Cuby, St. 
James, Cornelly, and Veryan. 

A large stone coffin was dug up near the town, with a 
defaced inscription, containing a skeleton of gigantic size ; 
one of the teeth was two and a half inches in length, and the 
coffin measured eleven feet and three inches. 

Veryan. — Veryan is so named from St. Phorian, and 
was formerly called ElerkL 

In this parish is a large cairn, beneath which, it is said 1 , 
Gerennius, an old British King, was buried. 

Port Loe is a small fishing town on Veryan Bay. 

The Nare Head is the southern point of the parish ; off 
it is the Gull Rock, or the Gray. 

Pare Behan is the seat, of the family of Gwatkin. 

Veryan is the most north ernly, and largest of the six 
parishes of Roseland ; it lies between Ruanlanihorne and 
St. Michael Carhayes, and is washed on the south by Gerrans 
Bay. 

Ruanlanihorne Ruanlanihorne is washed on the 

west by the Fal, which separates it from Lamorran, and is 
bounded on the east by Veryan. 

Whitaker, the author of the history of St. German's 
Cathedral, was rector of this parish. 

Near the church are some remains of a castle, which had 
eight towers, and was held by the Erchdeckne family. 

An orchard on the glebe, once called Park Apple, is 
mentioned as having been very large and ancient. 

This parish claims to be considered one of the parishes of 
ftoseland: Whitaker maintained it had no right to that 
honour. 

Philleigh.— Philleigh, or Filley, is so named from 
Felix or Felicia, an ancient sabfct.. 



OF CORNWALL. 175 

It is washed on the north by the Fal : has Gerrans and 
St. Just, on the south. 

Tolverne is a decayed seat in this parish, once the resi- 
dence of the Arundels of Lanherne : now the property of 
Lord Falmouth. 

There are ferries over the Fal at King Harry Passage to 
Feock, and at Tolverne to Kea parish, and St. Michael Pen- 
kivel. 

This parish was anciently called Eglos-Ros, or the 
church on the Heath ; with Ruanlanihorne, Veryan, Philleigh, 
St. Just, Gerrans, and St. Anthony, it forms the peninsula 
called Roseland. 

Penhallow was the seat of the old family of Penhallow. 

St. Just in Roseland. — This parish is bounded south 
and west by the Fal, east by Gerrans, and north by Philleigh. 

St. Mawes lies at the southern extremity of the parish of 
St. Just ; it is a small fishing port, and was formerly a 
borough. It returned two members from 1562, but was dis- 
franchised in 1832. It contains a chapel of ease, served by 
the rector of St. Just. St. Mawes Castle, on the west of the 
town, was built by Henry VIII, and is still in perfect con- 
dition ; it was held by Sir Richard Vyvyan for the King, but 
surrendered to the Parliament in 1646. 

St. Just in Roseland is so called to distinguish it from 
the western St. Just in Penwith. 

On the west side of the parish is the excellent anchorage 
called St. Just Pool, in which foreign ships perform quaran- 
tine. 

The church lies at the head of a little creek of the Fal : 
the church-yard rises above it, abundantly and beautifully 
wooded. 

Round St. Mawes and in the neighbouring creeks, a large 
oyster fishery is carried on. 

St. Mawes is so called from Mauditus or Machutus, an 
early bishop, whose name is still preserved in the calendar of 

H 5 



ifd PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

the English church : St. Maudit's Well, and part of his chair, 
are still to be seen in the town. 

Gerrans. — Gerrans is one of the parishes of Roseland/ 
and is hounded by St. Anthony, Philleigh, and St. Just. 

Trewince, Trewithian, and Rosteage, are seats in this 
parish. 

Porthscatha is a fishing town on Gerrans Bay. 

Near Trewithian is an ancient earthwork, said to be the 
remains of the palace of the British King Gerennius, from 
whom the parish takes its name. His dead body, as the tale 
runs, was taken in a silver boat across the bay to Pendower 
beach, and then buried with the boat on the hill above, and 
over it was raised that huge cairn, now standing in Veryan 
near the Nare Head. 

A narrow neck of land joins this parish to St. Anthony. 
A custom-house officer of St. Mawes, who had been often 
baffled in his schemes to seize some of the daring smugglers 
of Porthscatha, one day brought his boat to this point, and 
had her carried overland, and launched in Gerrans Bay; he 
pounced suddenly upon the smugglers, and secured a good 
prize. 

The barton of Tregear, which is held directly from the 
Bishop of Exeter, is in this parish. 

Near Pen- van is the Mermaid's Chair and Cavern. 

St. Anthony in Roseland. — This small parish occu- 
pies the most southernly point of Roseland ; it is connected 
by a narrow isthmus with Gerrans on the north. 

At Place was a priory, founded by King Athelstan, and 
connected with Plympton priory in Devon ; it is the property 
of the Spry family. 

There is a light-house on the Zone Point, opposite Pen- 
dennis : there was formerly a small battery on the hill above it.- 

The views of Falmouth Harbour and the sea, from the 
high lands in this parish, are extremely lovely. 



OF CORNWALL. 



177 



The church of St. Anthony is very beautiful, in a deep 
and wooded glen : in the church- yard is a large stone coffin. 



VII.— HUNDRED OF PYDAR. 



This Hundred is supposed to take its name from the 
chapel of St. Peter, or Pedyr, in the manor of Rialton, in 
St. Columb Minor ; which manor in old time exercised royal 
rights over the whole Hundred. It contains twenty-one par- 
ishes, which are thus divided : 

EAST DIVISION. 

Padstow. 
Lanhydrock. 



St. Breock. 
St. Issey. 
Little Petherick. 
St. Ervan. 
St. Eval. 
St. Merryn. 



Newlyn. 
Crantock. 



Lanivet. 

Withiel. 

St. Wenn. 

St. Columb Major 



WEST DIVISION. 

I Cubert. 

Perranzabuloe. 



St. Columb 

Minor. 
Mawgan. 
Colan. 
St. Enoder. 



St. Agnes. 



St. Breock. — St. Breock is bounded north and north- 
east by the Camel, south by Withiel, and west by St. Issey. 

Wadebridge is chiefly in this parish ; part being on the 
other side of the river, in Egloshayle. It takes its name 
from a bridge of seventeen arches, built over the Camel in 
1485, by the care of Peter Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter, and 
Thomas Lovibond, the vicar of Egloshayle. The architect 
of the bridge, John de Harlyn, could find no solid foundation 
in the bed of the river, whereon to lay the bases cf the piers : 
after many fruitless attempts he laid them on wool-packs, 
and they stand firm to this day. There is a large old fig-tree 
growing amongst the stones of the bridge. A toll is payable 



ift PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

for passing the bridge, but all vehicles belonging to Eglos- 
hayle and St Ereock are exempt 

The church lies in a close valley, a brook passing through 
the churchyard. 

Pawton was the property of the priors of Bodmin, who 
had a house and deerpark here. Certain lands of this manor 
were bequeathed by them for the repairs of the bridge. 

There is a railway from Wadebridge to Bodmin. 

In this parish is the cromlech called the Giant's Quoit. 

St. Issey.— St Issey was called also Nansant, and 
Eglosrock. It is separated from St. Minver by the Camel. 

Four chapels are recorded to have once stood in this 
parish. 

Little Petherick. — Little Petherick is known also by 
the name of St. Petrock Minor : it is a long narrow parish, 
of small extent, lying between St Ervan and St. Issey, with 
its church at the northern end. 

St. Ervan. — St. Ervan is bounded by Padstow, St 
Merryn, St Eval, Mawgan, Higher St. Columb, and Little 
Petherick. 

Trembleth is an ancient property of the Trembleths and 
Arundels. The house, chapel, and burial-ground are des- 
troyed. 

St. Eval. — St. Eval lies on the western coast, lashed 
by severe storms. 

A high table-land extends from the neighbourhood of 
Bodmin to the remarkable cliffs of Bredrewthan, in this 
parish. 

The church stands high and exposed. The tower is a 
well known landmark ; and, on account of its great service 
to mariners, was rebuilt, early in the last century, by the 
merchants of Bristol ; w€ trust more for God's glory thaa 
for their own gain. 



OF CORNWALL. 1 7$ 

Hocks on the coast are called Park Head. Mawgan 
Porth runs into the south of the parish. 

St. Merryn. — This parish lies south-west from Padstow. 

Trevose Head, in St. Merryn, is the highest and boldest 
cape on this coast: it commands a view from Cape Cornwall 
to Lundy Isle. A light-house stands on it. 

On the south side of the parish are the ruins of a church. 
This was the church of the parish of Constantine ; but its 
church and village having been destroyed in a furious Atlantic 
tempest, and overwhelmed with sand, the remainder was joined 
to St. Merryn, forming one parish. The feast of St. Con- 
stantine was of late years kept in St. Merryn, and a shep- 
herd's family for many generations held a cottage in Constan- 
tine under the lord of Harlyn, by the annual rendering of a 
C^xliii pie, made of limpets, raisins, and sweet herbs. 

The Catacleuse Cliffs, in St. Merryn, have supplied a dark 
and very durable stone for arches, piers, windows, fonts, and 
monuments. The church of St. Merryn, and many other 
churches, are built in part with Catacleuse stone. 

Harlyn is the property of the family of Peter. 

Portleaze, Polventon, and Constantine Bays, extend into 
this parish : on the coast is Constantine Island. 

Padstow. — Padstow, that is, the place of St. Patrick, 
is called also St. Petrock Major, and Great Petherick : its 
British name was Lodenic, and the Saxons called it Adel- 
stowe, after King Athelstan. It lies at the mouth of the 
Camel, which separates it from St. Minver. 

The town is old, on the west side of the river. Padstow 
Harbour is the best shelter on the north coast, and of great 
service to small trading ships. The channel is much blocked 
up with sand, but there is good anchorage in the middle of 
the river, and a good pier and quays : at high water the har- 
bour appears a large lake, shut in by granite cliffs. Padstow 
carries on a large trade with Bristol, Wales, Ireland, th# 
Baltic, and America. Its exports are fish and slate. 



180 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

St. Patrick is said to have settled here in earliest times, 
and taught the Gospel to the heathen Britons. The old 
monkish historian tells an idle tale about St. Patrick swim- 
ming over from Ireland on an altar of stone, landing at 
Padstow, building a church, and putting his Irish boat in it. 

There were once seven small churches in this parish. 
The font in Padstow church is very large and handsome, 
with full-length figures of all the Apostles cut in Catacleuse 
stone ; the church itself is noble* 

The Padstow men were false-hearted in the Caroline 
war : they got hold of three ships in the harbour that were 
going to Ireland to fetch troops for the King, and massacred 
all the Irishmen on board. 

Place, the site of St. Patrick's church, is the seat of 
the family of Brune, once Prideaux. It is a castellated 
building, capable of defence, and during the troubles mounted 
a battery. A chapel, dedicated to St. Sampson, stood in the 
grounds. At Place was born Humphrey Prideaux, Dean of 
Norwich, author of the i( Connexion of the History of the 
Old and New Testament.'* 

Near Stephen Point, the western cliff at the entrance of 
the harbour, are ruins of St. Saviour's chapel. 

The lands of Credis belong to the poor of Lanivet. 

The town of Padstow was incorporated by Elizabeth, 
but the charter was lost. Padstow in rure was a peculiar of 
the Bishop's, while the town was in the Archdeacon's visita- 
tion. All peculiars were lately abolished by order of the 
Queen in Council. 

Lanhydrock. — Lanhydrock forms, with Lanivet, Kel- 
land, and Bodmin, the new borough of Bodmin. 

The church is close to Lanhydrock House. The incum- 
bent usually holds one of the sinecure prebends of Endellion, 
which is in the same patronage. 

Lanhydrock House, the seat of the family of Robartes, 
Was garrisoned for the Parliament in the early part of the 



OF CORNWALL. 1$1 

civil wars ; but being surrendered to the King, it was granted 
to Sir Richard Grenville, whom the King then created Baron 
of Lostwithiel. It was restored by the Parliament to Lord 
Robartes, who was created Viscount Bodmin, and Earl of 
Radnor. 

Respryn is said formerly to have been a large parish,- 
containing the parishes of Lanhydrock and St. Winnow. 

Lanivet. — Lanivet church tower is nearly in the cen- 
tre of the county. 

The parish is one of those forming the borough of 
Bodmin. 

There are certain lands in this parish, and in others, once" 
belonging to the monastery of St. Benet's, which are vested 
in twelve feoffees for the good of the poor. 

On the south of Lanivet church is a large portion of the" 
old Benedictine monastery, called St. Benet's ; the tower of 
the chapel still stands, covered with' ivy, and other parts of 
the building are in tenantable condition, and occupied by 
labourers. 

Lanivet hill is covered with masses of rocks. 

Withiel. — Withiel is bounded by Bodmin, Lanivet, St. 
Breock, St. Wenn, and Roche. 

The church, with its handsome tower, and the old parson- 
age, are supposed to have been built by Prior Vivian. 

Brynn, in this parish, was formerly a seat of the Gren- 
villes : and here, on the 23rd of March, 1595, was born the 
great Sir Beville Grenville. 

St. Wenn. — St. Wenn is bounded by Withiel, Roche, 
St. Columb Major, St. Issey, and St. Breock. 

This is the only parish mentioned in Doomsday Book 
with the prefix of Saint: at this time there are more than 60 
parishes that bear it. 

On the north downs, called Carenza Woitha, was a- 



182 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

small church dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, which was 
destroyed in the great rebellion. 

Of Tregury in this parish, was Michael de Tregury, 
Archbishop of Dublin in 1471. Henry V made him presi- 
dent of his college at Caen, in Normandy. Hals the his- 
torian inherited Tregury, and lived there; he wrote a Cornish 
Dictionary, but his Parochial History was never finished. 

St. Columb Major. — St. Columb Major, or Higher 
St. Columb, is one of the largest parishes in the county, with 
a market-town of the same name. 

The church is a magnificent building, dedicated to St. 
Columba : it is ancient and spacious, with a nave and two 
aisles, chancel and two transepts : the stately tower contains 
eight bells. The eastern part of the south aisle was a chapel 
of the Arundels, of whom whole generations are mouldering 
in the vault beneath. This chapel and other parts of the 
church were blown up in 1676, by the explosion of a barrel 
of gunpowder, which lay in the rood-loft, and was fired by 
some mischievous schoolboys, three of whom were killed. 
Some few years after, the old spire, which was much loftier 
than the present one, was shattered by lightning. 

The north transept is called the Trewan aisle. There 
were formerly many chapels in this parish. 

Trenowith and Trewan were the possessions of John 
Vivian, one of the worthies of Cornwall in the troubled days 
of King Charles I. Trewan House is a fine old granite 
building, erected in 1633. 

Nanswhydden was the residence of Richard Hoblyn, 
Esq., M.P. for Bristol : he built a grand house, and estab- 
lished a noble library, open to all the county: it was burnt 
down in 1803. 

Castle-an-dinas, in this parish, is a "famous ancient 
British treble entrenchment," on a high table-land, enclosing 
six acres of ground, and some ruins: the waste land around 
it is called the Goss Moors. On the north side of the parish 



OF CORNWALL, 1S-5 

Are the stones called the "Nine Maidens," or in Cornish 
"Naw Voz," the " Nine Sisters.'* 

Sir A. Kington, King Henry's Commissioner for pun- 
ishing the Cornish rebels, seized Master Mayow, of St. Col- 
umb, in his own town. Mistress Mayow, intending to plead 
before the Commissioner for her husband's life, spent so long 
time in making herself look smart, that before she had 
reached the presence of the stern judge, Master Mayow was 
hanged. 

St. Columb Major is the most valuable benefice in the 
county: the tithes are commuted for £1,500. 

St. Columb Minor.— -St. Columb Minor, or Lower St. 
Columb, is a large parish on the coast, well watered and 
wooded : it lies west of Higher St. Columb. 

The church is large and handsome, with a noble tower: 
the roof of the nave was constructed in costly carved work, 
painted with gold and vermillion : the benches were of black 
oak, cut in figures. The communion plate is rich and mas- 
sive, given to God and His church by the Right Honourable 
Francis, Earl of Godolphin, in 1750. 

Newquay is a sea-port and summer watering-place, on a 
beautiful bay, in the south-west of the parish : it carries on a 
large pilchard and herring fishery. A /ailway, twenty miles 
long, across the Goss Moors, will connect Newquay with Par, 
and unite the north and south seas, that vessels may discharge 
their cargoes at Newquay, and escape the danger and delay 
of doubling the Land's End. 

The manor of Rialton, under which name this district 
went at the Conquest, belonged to the priory of Bodmin, 
and is now vested in the Crown. It possessed royal rights, 
and claimed jurisdiction over the whole Hundred of Pydar, 
Some of the ruined buildings still remain, standing in a 
beautiful valley, and bearing the arms of Prior Vivian. 

Watergate Bay extends into this parish, bounded on the 
south by Towan Point. 



184 PAROCHIAL GEOGRATHY 

St. Mawgan in Pydar. — This parish is so called to 
distinguish it from St. Mawgan in Meneage. 

It lies between St. Eval and St. Columb Major. 

The church contains many brasses and old monuments 
of the great Arundel family. 

Their ancient seat, Lanherne, is now a Roman Catholic 
nunnery. It was given by Lord Arundel to a convent of 
Carmelite nuns, who fled from Antwerp when it was invaded 
by the French revolutionary armies. 

Carnanton was the seat of Attorney General Noye ; it 
now belongs to the family of Willyams ; many old coins, 
chiefly British, have been found here. 

The lands in this parish are fertile ; the valley of Lan- 
herne is very beautiful, watered by a pleasant stream. 

Llaiy Arundel, of Lanherne, was a great Greek and 
Latin scholar. 

There is a fine old cross in the church-yard, beautifully 
cut in figures, and in good condition.' 

Colan. — Colan, or Little Colan, is enclosed by the two 
St. Columbs, Newlyn, and St. Enoder. 

Coswarth was the seat of a family of that name : and is 
said to have been famous for its woods. 

St. Enoder. — This parish, once divided between the 
Hundreds of Pydar and Powder, is now entirely in Pydar. 

The church was nearly destroyed in the time of Charles 
I, by the falling of the tower. 

The old borough of Michell, formerly written Modes- 
hole, is partly in this parish and partly in St. Newlyn. It 
returned two members from the reign of Edward VI to that 
of William IV ; it was then disfranchised. Carew, the his- 
torian of Cornwall, was one of its members. It once had a 
chapel of its own, called St. Francis' chapel. 

WEST DIVISION. 
Newlyn. — Newlyn, or Newlyn East, lies between St. 



OP CORNWALL. 1S5 

s 

Enoder and Perranzabuloe, and is bounded south by St. 
Columb. 

, The Bishops of Exeter had a palace at Cargol. Hum- 
phry Borlase, of Cargol, is said to have been created Baron 
Michell by James II, after his abdication : he died here, very 
poor. 

Michell is partly in this parish. 

Trerice, the inheritance of the Trerices, passed in mar- 
riage to the Arundels of Trerice. Part of the old lordly 
mansion is still standing. It was inherited by John Arundel, 
who was with Queen Elizabeth at Tilbury ; that same stern 
old warrior, who, at the age of eighty, so bravely defended 
Pendennis Castle, and who went among the Roundheads by 
the name of" Old Tilbury," and "John for the King." 

Here is worked a rich silver-lead mine, called East 
Wheal Rose. 

Crantock. — Crantock lies on the coast, and is bounded 
by St. Columb Minor, Cubert, and Newlyn. 

There was a monastery here dedicated to St. Crantocus : 
the sands from the Gannel have blown over its ruins. 

The Gannel Creek runs up to Trevemper Bridge, The 
western parliamentary division begins at Crantock. 

Cubert. — Cubert is a contraction for St. Cuthbert. It 
is bounded by Crantock, Perranzabuloe, Newlyn, and the sea. 

The north side of the parish is bounded by high and 
rugged cliffs ; under them in a cave is a spring of fresh 
water, called Holy Well, from which the part of the sea 
which washes that coast is called Holy Well Bay : off the 
northern point is the rock called " The Chick." 

Perranzabuloe.— This parish, called also St. Perran 
Sands, or Piran in the Sands, is bounded by the sea, St. 
Agnes, Cubert, and Kenwyn. 

Its western side is greatly overblown with sands, which 
extend up the coast for two miles. Two churches have heen 



1 S3 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

destroyed by the mingled agency of wind, water, and sand, and 
their ruins are visible as the sands shift : a third church has 
been built further inland, at Lambourn, in the centre of the 
parish. 

St. Piran is the patron saint of the tinners, and pilgrims 
came in large numbers to visit his shrine in the old church. 

The village of Perran Forth is much frequented in sum- 
mer. Here the whole volume of the Atlantic, unbroken by 
any land between this coast and America, rolls its huge bil- 
lows in magnificent majesty over the broad sandy plain. 

This parish is full of mines. Perranzabuloe and St 
Agnes were until lately united, and formed the most extensive 
cure of souls in Cornwall. 

The new district of Mithian includes a small part of 
this parish. 

On Carnkief is Fenton Berran, or St. Perran' s Well, 
enclosed in granite walls. North of the well is St. Perran 
Round, the largest Plaen-an-guare, or amphitheatre, in the 
county. It is made of turf, is 130 feet in diameter, and rises 
in seven steps. It was used in olden days for the exhibition, 
of miracle-plays. 

Near the manor-house of Tywarnhaile is a small island, 
on which formerly stood a chapel, called Engarder. 

St. Agnes. — This parish is generally called St. Anne's, 
that it may not be confounded with St. Agnes, one of the 
Scilly Isles ; it was formerly called Breanick. 

The surface of the parish is dreary and waste, destroyed 
by mines : but it has yielded a vast supply of tin ore. The 
high cliffs on the coast are intersected with lodes of metal. 

Near Scorrier grounds, at a spot called " Kyvere Ankow," 
the place of death, (because there they buried, in an unhal- 
lowed grave, the self-murdererj the four parishes of Gwen- 
nap, Redruth, Kenwjm, and St. Agnes, and the four Hund- 
reds of Fydar, Powder, Kirrier, and Penwith, meet. 

Trevaunance was the residence of Tonkin, the writer on 



of co ax WALL. 



IS? 



Cornish parochial history. The Tonkin family, at a very 
great cost, made many attemps to build a pier in the little 
cove below the house, but a great storm in a single night 
swept away, again and again, the work of years. Winstanly, 
the architect of the second Eddystone lighthouse, completed 
a good quay and basin, which lasted five years, but were des- 
troyed in a great gale in August, 1705. Tonkin, the his- 
torian, spent a large sum in endeavouring to repair the pier, 
and left it unfinished. Late in the last century a small jetty 
was built, which has withstood the sea, and is used by small 
vessels, carrying coals, &c. 

St. Agnes Beacon is a high hill, of singular geological 
character, having on its summit three barrows, and command- 
ing extensive views. In a large entrenchment called the 
Gorres, a golden coin of Valentinian was ploughed up. 

The painter Opie was a native of the parish of St. Agnes. 

The chapelries of Mithian and Mount Hawke are formed 
in part out of this parish. 

At Dingle Combe was a sea-side chapel. Off the coast 
are the rocks called " The Cow and Calf,' 5 or " Man and his 
Man." 



VIII.-HUNDRED OF KIRRIER. 



This Hundred contains twenty-six parishes, which are 



thus divided : 



Falmouth. 
Budock. 
Giuvias. 
Mylor. 



EAST DIVISION. 

Mabe. 
Mawnan. 
Con stan tine. 



Stythians. 

Perranarworthal 

Gwennap. 



1S8 



PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 



^ 


ft r EST DIVISION. 




Wendron. 


Mawgan. 


Mullion. 


Sithney. 


St. Martin's. 


Ruan Major. 


Breage. 


Manaccan. 


Ruan Minor. 


Germoe. 


St. Anthony. 


Grade. 


Cury. 


St. Keverne. 


Landewednack 


Gunwalloe. 







The northern and western portions of this Hundred ahound 
in valuable minerals : the southern part, including the penin- 
sula of Meneage, is the richest agricultural district in the 
county. 



Falmouth. — The town of Falmouth is of very modern 
date, and takes its name from its position at the mouth of 
the Fal. It was founded by the Killigrews, Lords of Arwen- 
ack, in the reign of James I, that vessels might have a nearer 
port than Penryn, which was two miles from the mouth of 
the harbour, or Truro, which was seven miles up the river. 
The building of the new town was opposed and hindered by 
the men of Truro, Penryn, and Helston ; but King James, 
after hearing the arguments for and against the design, direc- 
ted that the work should proceed ; the few houses standing 
on the spot before the town was built, were called Smithick, 
and Penny-come- quick. From its advantageous position, 
Falmouth speedily became the first port in Cornwall : its 
trade has declined of late years, in consequence of the with- 
drawal of the government packets. In 1832 Falmouth was 
united with Penryn, to form one borough, for the purpose of 
electing two members of Parliament. The town has an ex- 
empt jurisdiction, limited in the harbour by the tide, whether 
ships be afloat or aground. 

From its readiness of access, its great extent, its depth 
of water, and safe anchorage, Falmouth Harbour is the best in 
Britain ; it is the first port that vessels homeward bound can 
make ; it is sheltered from winds on every quarter, and is so 
capacious that it would contain the whole English navy. 



OF CORNWALL. 189 

The mayors of Truro long claimed jurisdiction over the port 
and harbour of Falmouth, but after Falmouth had received 
its charter from King Charles II, it opposed this right, and 
the mayor of Truro having exercised his privilege, in June, 
1709, by sailing round the harbour to the Black Rock, the 
cause came to an issue in law, and Falmouth succeeded in 
establishing its claim to a free control over all the waters of 
the harbour. 

The entrance of the harbour is from Pendennis Point 
to St. Anthony Head ; midway between these is the Black 
Rock, but as it is small, and the water on both sides very 
deep, it is no impediment to navigation. The middle of the 
harbour is called Carrick Road ; the inner part, between 
Trefusis Point, Pendennis, and the town, is called King 
Road. The harbour has five principal branches, one to St. 
Mawes and Gerrans, another up King Harry Reach, towards 
Tregoney, which is the main stream of the true Voluba, or 
Fal ; a third to Truro and Tresilian Bridge ; a fourth to 
Restronguet and Perranarworthal ; and a fifth to Penryn ; 
but besides these there are many smaller arms. 

Falmouth gives the title of Viscount to the family of 
Boscawen Rose, of Tregothnan, in St. Michael Penkivel. 

The parish of Falmouth was carved out of Budock : the 
church was built by the Killigrews, in 1663, and through the 
full tide of loyalty then so strongly flowing, was dedicated to 
God, by the name of the church of Charles, King and Mar- 
tyr. The chapelry of Penwerris is a distinct ecclesiastical 
district on the north side of the town. Houses in Falmouth, 
as in London, are subject to a rector's rate. 

Arwenack House, between Falmouth and Pendennis, 
was the seat of the Killigrews. Sir John Killigrew, in 1646, 
seeing the affairs of the King to be past all hope of retrieval, 
and Fairfax advancing to the siege of Pendennis Castle, 
with his own hand set fire to his noble house at Arwenack, 
that evil men might not find shelter there. Portions of the 
old walls still are seen, built into houses, which now occupy 



1§0 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

its place. A granite pyramid, which once stood in the 

grounds, has been removed to a higher site. 

Eudock. — Budock is bounded on the south by Falmouth 
Bay: it encloses the parish of Falmouth. Penwerris, a part 
of the town of Falmouth, and a small part of Penryn, are in 
Budock parish. 

Pendennis Castle is in Budock parish, but is sep: 
from the larger part by 1 . It is built on a high 

point of land almost surrounded by the sea. The Danes had 
seized it in early times, and had raised some rough fortifica- 
tions upon it : Henry VIII first erected a building of stone. 
Queen Elizabeth greatly strengthened and enlarged the cas- 
tle, and appointed a governor with a hundred men. 
Nicholas Slanning was governor under Charles I, but when 
he fell at Bristol, the governorship was conferred on John 
Aiundel, of Trerice. Pendennis was defended by this brave 
old man, then nearly eighty years of age, against the parlia- 
mentary forces under Fairfax, besieging it by sea and land : 
the garrison made gallant sallies, and held out for six months ; 
but having consumed all their provisions, and made pasties of 
their horses, cats, and dogs, they suffered so grievously from 
hunger, that they were forced to capitulate : they made 
most honourable conditions of surrender, the enemy being 
deceived by their bold bearing. Pendennis was the last for- 
tress held for the King. It is still a royal garrison, strongly 
fortified. 

Glasseney College, near Penryn, was the largest ecclesi- 
astical establishment in the county, with buildings enclosed 
in walls with towers, and defended by cannon. It fell into 
ruins after the Reformation : and a small fragment of the old 
structure remains. 

Keggilliack was once a seat of the Bishops of Exeter, 
and is still held under the see. 

Swan Pool is a lake on the coast, separated from the sea 
by a sand bank. 



OP CORNWALL. i9l 

Gluvias.— Gluvias is a small parish, between Mylor 
&nd Stythians, at the head of Penryn Creek. 

Penryn is a very ancient town, which had a court-leet 
before the Norman Conquest : it has sent two members to 
Parliament since .1553, but, by the Reform Act, Falmouth 
now shares in the election. Penryn was a place of great 
trade when Falmouth was a field : its commerce is still large : 
it exports great quantities of granite for the building of piers, 
quays, railways, bridges, &c„ The mayor of Penryn has in 
his possession a silver cup and cover, given to the borough 
by Lady Jane Killigrew, bearing this inscription : 

" From Maior to Maior 

to the town of Penmarin, 

when they received me that was in great misery. 

J. K., 1633." 

Penryn was taken by Fairfax, in 1646. 
Enys, at the head of Mylor Creek, is the ancient seat of 
the family of Enys. 



Mylor. — Mylor lies between Penryn River and Res- 
tronguet Creek, 

The church stands at the entrance of Mylor Creek. 
St. Melor was a Christian Duke of Cornwall, martyred by 
his pagan brother Rinaldus. Near the church is a govern- 
ment depot, now abandoned. 

Flushing is a small town, founded by Dutch settlers, on 
the west side of the parish, opposite Falmouth : it was for- 
merly called Nankerry, and was in existence before Falmouth. 
It was built by the family of Trefusis, to whom the valuable 
ferry hence to Falmouth belongs. St. Peter's chapel is in 
Flushing ; it is consecrated, but not endowed. 

Trefusis House, the property of Lord Clinton, is gone to 
decay. 

Carclew, one of the noblest mansions in the county, is 
the residence of Sir C. Lemon, Bart., M.P. 



192 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

There is a ferry over Restronguet Creek to the parish of 
Feock. 

At the head of this creek is Perran wharf. 

Mylor Bridge is a village in this parish. 

The vicarage of Mylor is held with Mabe, from which it 
is separated by Gluvias. 

Mabe. — Mabe, anciently Lavabe, or Lavapper, reaches 
to Penryn, and is bounded by Gluvias, Budock, Constantine, 
and Stythians. 

It is a daughter church of Mylor, though separated from 
it by Gluvias. 

It is a parish of barren land, covered with rocks of granite, 
which is raised in large masses, and cut in cubes and slabs, 
and exported to London and other large towns by way of 
Penryn. 

Mawnan.— Mawnan is bounded by the sea, Budock, 
and Constantine : it is separated by the Heyl from the pen- 
insula of Meneage. 

Rosemullion Point, in this parish, and the Nare Point 
in St. Keverne, are the outer boundaries of Helford Haven. 

Penwarne was the residence of the very ancient family 
of that name. On the barton stood a free chapel and bury- 
ing place, before Mawnan church was built: and the lord of 
Penwarne was bailiff of the Hundred of Kirrier by inheri- 
tance. 

Constantine.— Constantine is separated from Meneage 
by the river Helford, and is bounded by Budock, Mabe, 
Stythians, and "VVendron. 

Carwethenack, Trewordfeva, and Merther, are old seats 
in this parish. 

Gweek is a small port, partly in Constantine, at the head 
of Helford Creek. 

The church is a large and noble structure of granite. 



OF CORNWALL. 1$3 

This parish contains many cromlechs. The largest is 
at Men, and is called Tolmen, or Holed Stone ; it is a vast 
oval slah of granite, thirty three feet long, points due north 
and south, and is supported on two pillars ; the upper part is 
scooped in basins. 

Carwethenack was the seat of Master Chapman, who 
one dark night, leading his horse across the country, fell 
down ninety feet into the shaft of an old mine, twenty 
fathoms deep, and there lay suspended lor seventeen hours, 
supported by his sword and the sides of the shaft, until he 
was rescued by his servants. 

Two rivulets from the high lands form the creek of Pol- 
wheveril, and fall into the Helford, or Heyl. 

Stythians.— Stythians is them other church of Perran- 
arworthal, and is bounded by that parish, Gluvias, Mabe, 
Constantine, Wendron, and Gwennap-. 

This is a mining parish: and hence are brought vast 
quantities of granite, which is shipped at Penryn for London 
and other places, and is used in building bridges and quays. 

Perranarworthal. — Perranarworthal is a daughter 
church of Stythians. 

It is bounded by Feock, Mylor, Kea, Gwennap, Stythians, 
and Gluvias. 

At the head of Restronguet Creek, in a wild barren val- 
ley, are the famous Carnon stream-works. Above these is 
the Great Adit, which runs westward as far as Chacewater, 
and measures with its branches thirty miles. 

In this parish is a large iron foundry. 

Gwennap. — This parish is a scene of desolation and 
dreariness ; the mines are of vast depth, and have been worked 
for many ages. 

The tower of the church is a detached building. 

St. Day or St. Dye is a market-town in this parish. It 



194 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

is said once to have formed a distinct parish from Gwennap, 
hut that its church fell down, and the south aisle of Gwen- 
nap church was added at the cost of the people of St. Day : 
a new church has heen built in St. Day. 

The new parish of Lanarth is taken out of Gwennap 
parish. 

Scorrier House is the seat of the family of Williams, 
and contains a valuable collection of Cornish minerals. 

Karn-marth is the highest point of a ridge of hills that 
runs through this parish, Camborne, and Illogan. On the 
top is a large stone barrow. 

Opposite this hill is Trebowling, a large fortification. 

This parish, with Camborne, Illogan, and Redruth, forms 
the most important mining district of Cornwall. The parish 
of Gwennap has produced more wealth, of a mineral kind, 
than any other spot of the same extent in the old world. 

Gwennap Pit is either an old British amphitheatre, or a 
hollow caused by the sinking of earth beneath. 

WEST DIVISION. 

Wendron. — Wendron, or Gwendron, is a parish of large 
extent, stretching in length nine miles, from Redruth to the 
sea. For the benefit of the ministrations of the church, it 
has been divided into three new districts, the chapelry of 
Carnmenellis in the north ; Wendron, with the old parish 
church, in the middle ; and Helston on the south. 

This parish has produced much tin, through many ages. 

The borough of Helston is chiefly in Wendron, lying on 
the east side of the river Cober, and at the head of Loe 
Pool. It received a charter from Richard Cceur de Lion : 
his brother John made it one of the four coinage towns : 
Edward I made Helston his western metropolis, and kept 
Christmas here, with Eleanor his Queen, in much joy. 

Helston formerly returned two members to Parliament : 
by the Reform Bill it was deprived of one, and the rights of 



OF CORNWALL. 195 

franchise extended to the southern half of the parish of 
Wendron, and the whole parish of Sithney. Attorney Gen- 
eral Noye sat for the borough of Helston. 

There were formerly hospitals of St. Mary Magdalen 
and St. John in Helston : on the site of the hospital of St. 
John is fixed an upright stone, with a sword engraved on it. 
There was once also a castle : there is still a grammar-school. 
The church of St. Michael, in Helston, having been struck 
with lightning in 1727, was rebuilt by Lord Godolphin: the 
rich communion plate is inscribed " The gift of Danyel Bed- 
ford to the church of Helston, 1603." 

On the eighth of May, in every year, is celebrated in 
Helston the ancient merry-making called the Furry: the 
young people fadgy (go) into the country, and return dressed 
with flowers : they then dance through the houses and gar- 
dens of the town, singing the Furry Song. 

The little town of Gweek is partly in Wendron, 

About two miles south-west of Helston is the Loe Pool, 
a fresh- water lake, formed by a sand-bar thrown up by the 
sea. 

Sithney. — This parish forms part of the new borough 
of Helston : it is connected by the Loe Bar with Gunwalloe. 

Penrose is a seat near Loe Pool, belonging to the family 
of Rogers. 

St. Johns is a village in this parish, connected by a 
bridge with Helston. 

In Sithney is the logan stone Men- Amber. In Crom- 
well's time, the governor of Pendennis Castle caused it to be 
undermined and thrown off its balance, because he thought 
the people reverenced it more than good Christians ought. 
It was so nicely poised that a child could rock it. 

Porthleven is a fishing -town on the coast, with a small 
pier : unsuccessful attempts have been made to form a har- 
bour. St. Bartholomew's chapel is in Porthleven, with a 
district assigned. 

i2 



196 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHT 

The great tithes of Sithney were appropriated to Glss- 
seney college in Penryn. 

The Anson frigate, with her captain and a great part of 
her crew, was lost in 1807 upon the Loe Bar. 

Breage. — Breage is the mother church of Germoe,. 
Cury, and Gunwalloe : the two last, separated from Breage 
by Sithney, now form a distinct cure. 

On the north quarter of this parish is the manor of 
Godolphin, which continued in the possession of the great 
family of that name, from the Norman Conquest until the 
line hecame extinct in 1785: it is now the property of the 
Duke of Leeds. Godolphin House is in ruins : it was the 
seat of Sidney Godolphin, Loid High Treasurer of England 
in the reign of Queen Anne. 

In the Godolphin aisle of Breage church, rests the body 
of that perfect pattern of a Christian lady,. Mrs. Margaret 
Godolphin, mother of the first Lord Godolphin. 

The northern part of Breage now constitutes the chap- 
elry of Godolphin. 

Pengerswick Castle stands in the southern part of the 
parish, in a valley, near the sea : its remains are fragments 
of walls, and two square towers : the road leading to the 
castle is paved for a great distance, 

Trevas Head and Sidney Ccve are in this parish. 

Tregoning Hill is a pile of white granite ; there is an 
old intrenchment on it. Godolphin Hill is rich in metallic 
ores. 

In this parish is the great tin and copper mine called 
Wheal Vor, once the richest mine in the county. 

Germoe. — This small parish, which is bounded hy 
Breage and St. Hilary, has produced vast quantities of tin. 
It contains the Godolphin mine, which, from the rich returns 
of metal it made, was called the Godolphin mint. 

In the churchyard is an ancient stone seat, called King- 



OF CORNWALL. 197 

Germoe's Throne, and St. Germoe's Chair. The valuable 
communion plate was the gift of those noble churchmen, the 
Lords Godolphin. 

Cury.— Cury lies on the east of Gunwalloe, between 
Mawgan and Mullicn. 

It forms a perpetual curacy with Gunwalloe. There is 
a fine Norman doorway in the church. 

Its ancient name was Corantyn. 

Gunwalloe. — This is a small parish, between Cury and 
the sea : it extends northwards along the shore to the Loe 
Pool, lying on the north-west side of the peninsula of 
Meneage. 

The peninsula of Meneage contains the following twelve 
parishes ; 



Gunwalloe. 
Cury. 

Mawgan. 
St. Martins. 



Manaccan. 
St. Anthony. 
St. Keverne. 
Mullion. 



Grade. 

Kuan Minor. 
Ruan Major. 
Landewednack. 



The Primrose sloop of war was lost in 1807, with all 
her crew but one boy, in Gunwalloe Cove. 

The church stands among sand-hills, close to the sea. 

To the eastward lie the Goonhilly Downs. 

Gunwalloe formed one benefice with Grade and Cury; 
it is now united with Cury only. 

Mawgan in Meneage. — Mawgan in Meneage, so called 
for distinction from Mawgan in Pydar, lies southwards from 
the river Helford. All the parishes south of the river Hel- 
ford and the Loe Pool are in Meneage. 

Three noble Cornish families, the Roskymers, Carmin- 
owes, and Vyvyans, once were settled in this parish : the 
latter only remains : their seat is a fine old castellated build- 
ing with a chapel, called Trelowarren. The family of Vyvyaa 
attached themselves with most devoted loyalty to the Royal 



I9& PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

cause, and suffered severely from the usurping powers ; in 
testimony to their eminent services, there hangs in their 
house a large painting of King Charles I on horsehack, pre- 
sented to the family by Charles II. Sir Richard Vyvyan 
was imprisoned in the Tower by George I, on suspicion of 
being concerned in favouring the design of the Pretender. 

At Mawgan Cross is a very old stone, with an inscrip- 
tion in Cornish, meaning, " What lieth here is not the soul.' , 

At Gear, Gweekwood, and Carvallock, are broken earth- 
works. On Goonhilly Downs, which extend into this parish, 
are many barrows", in which have been found coins and 
weapons of war. 

In the church is a stone effigy of a recumbent crusader, 
cne of the Carminowes t and in the north aisle are hung the 
helmet and sword used by Sir R. Yyvyan in the Great 
Rebellion. 

The rectory of Mawgan forms one benefice with St. 
Martins. 

St. Martins. — This parish Ties between Mawgan and 
Manaccan, being separated from Constantine by the Helford. 

It is called St. Martins in Meneage to distinguish it 
from St. Martins by Looe. 

It is a daughter church to Mawgan. The views of ike 
Helford in this parish are very fine.. 

Tremayne was the residence of Wallis, the circum- 
navigator. 

Manaccan. — Manaccan lies on the south of Helford 
Haven, between St. Martins and St. Anthony. 

Its ancient name was Minstor. It is separated from 
Constantine by the Heyl, across which there is a ferry, on 
the road from Falmouth to the Lizard. 

Richard Polwhele, rector of Manaccan in 1793, wrote 
largely on the Antiquities and History of Devon and Corn- 
wall. 



OJP CORNWALL. 199 

In this parish is Helfcrd, a small trading town on the 
river Heyl or Helford. 

The metallic substance called manaccanite was first dis- 
covered in this parish. 

The vicar of Manaccan one Sunday was reading in 
church the 27th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, which 
speaks of St. Paul's shipwreck, and relates that the sailors 
cast anchors out of the stern of the ship. On hearing this, 
a sailor, who was in the church, involuntarily cried out, " All 
Wrong — all wrong — bad seamanship!" English seamen 
cast anchor from the bows. 

St. Anthony in Meneage. — This parish is so called to 
distinguish it from St. Anthony in Roseland, and Anthony 
St. Jacob's. 

It lies at the entrance of Helford Haven, and is bounded 
by Manaccan and St. Keverne. 

Great Dinas and Little Dinas are two ancient entrench- 
ments, within which have been found many Roman coins. 
They were occupied by Sir Richard Vyvyan, of Trelowarren, 
for King Charles, and defended with 26 guns, but after an 
obstinate resistance were surrendered to Fairfax. 

At Condurra, in this parish, a large heap of Roman 
brass coins was found, bearing the head of Constantine, or 
some of his family, and on the reverse an outline of Rome 
or Constantinople. 

St. Keverne. — St. Keverne is the largest parish in 
Meneage, and is washed on the south and east by the sea. 
The Black Head is its southern point ; on the north is the 
Nare Point ; and on the east coast are the dangerous rocks 
called the Manacles. On these rocks many vessels have been 
wrecked in making Falmouth Harbour. In 1809, Major 
Cavendish, and sixty three officers and privates, were drowned 
in Coverack Cove, near Chynhal's Point. 

Lanarth House is the seat of the family of Sandys. 
i 5 



200 Parochial geography 

At Kiltor was born the rebel of that name, who headed 
the Cornisk insurrection in 1549. 

A yellow clay is found in this parish, good for the casting 
of silver, bsass, or lead. 

The church, standing on very high ground, was struck 
with lightning on Sunday, February 18, 1770, during the 
nours of service ; the spire was thrown down, the roof rent, 
and nearly all the congregation struck to the ground ; but,- 
by God's blessing, none were killed. 

The tithe of fish was formerly paid to the vicar of St.- 
Keverne. 

This parish lies on magnesian rocks and the serpentine 
of the Lizard, traversed by asbestos: it contains some of the 
most fertile land in England. Sixty Winchester bushels of 
wheat are harvested from an acre, and barley is sown and 
reaped in nine or ten weeks, yielding seventy -five bushels to 
the acre, for a common crop. 

Mullion Mullion extends down a rocky coast, from- 

Gunwalloe to Landewednack, 

On the coast is Mullion Isle. Near this isle the Happy- 
go-lucky r an armed lugger of 14 guns, commanded by the 
notorious smuggler, "Weiland, a Dover man, was surprised at 
anchor by the revenue cruisers, and captured, after a chace 
to the westward and a desperate fight, in which "Weiland was- 
slain. 

The fishing-town of Port Mellin is in this parish. 

The people of the parishes on Mount's Bay, and indeed 
on every part of the western coast of Cornwall, have been 
notorious, through many ages, for a horrible and inhuman 
practice of wrecking ; although this practice has not, in any 
way, been peculiar to the county. " When the news of a 
wreck flies along the coast, hundreds of people, called 
wreckers, collect near the fatal spot where the ship has struck, 
with pickaxes, hatchets, crowbars, and ropes, not for helping 
the wretched sufferers, but for breaking up and carrying off 



OP CORNWALL. 201 

all they can. The moment the vessel touches the shore, she 
is considered as fair plunder, and men, women, and children, 
are working on her to "break her up, night and day. The 
hardships the women endure in this detestable occupation are 
incredible. Should the vessel be laden with wine or spirits, 
she brings them certain death ; the rage and fighting to stave 
the casks, and bear away the spoil in kettles, pots, pans, 
pitchers, and all kinds of vessels, are brutal and shocking : 
to drunkenness and fighting succeed fatigue, sleep, cold, wet, 
suffocation, and death." It is stated that Sir Cloudesley 
Shovel, when wrecked on the Isles of Scilly, actually reached 
the shore alive, but that a woman meeting with him, knocked 
out his brains for the sake of his watch : she confessed the 
Crime on her death bed. The practice of wrecking has been 
of late years greatly checked by the vigilant exertions of the 
coast-guard. 

Ruan Major. — Ruan Major is between Mullion and 
Grade : this parish and Cury are the only two in Meneage 
not touched by the sea. 

It is called Ruan Major, or the Greater Ruan, to dis- 
tinguish it from Ruan Minor, the Lesser Ruan, and Ruan- 
lanihorne. 

The Goonhilly Downs extend over this parish, on which 
was once reared a native breed of small horses. 

Ruan Minor. — This is a small narrow parish, lying 
between Ruan Major and Landewednack. 

Cad^ewith is a fishing cove, near Innis Head. 

The parson of Ruan Minor, by ancient custom, rides 
into a certain field in the parish of Landewednack, whenever 
it has been sown with wheat, and takes away as many sheaves 
of corn as his horse can carry on his back. 

Grade. — This parish is separated by Ruan Major and 
Ruan Minor into four distinct parts. 



202' FAROCFriAL GEOCRAPlTr 

Grade and Ruan Minor form one benefice. 
Erisey House, built in the shape of the letter £ , was tne 
seat of the family of Erisey. 

Landewednack. — Landewednack is the most southern!/ 
parish in Great Britain ; it is washed on three sides hy the 
sea, and adjoins Mullion, Ruan Minor, and Grade. 

The southern extremity of this parish forms the famous 
promontory called the Lizard Point : it is in latitude 49° 57 r 
55"8 /;/ north, in longitude , r >° 11' 17" 7'" west. Two light- 
houses stand on the extreme point, with two lanterns, to dis- 
tinguish this light from the single light at Scilly, and the 
three lights at Guernsey. Before the light-houses were 
"built, they used to raise great fires of furze on the Lizard* 
There are 27 lamps in each lighthouse, fed with oil : for 
many years coal fires were used, and the flames kept bright 
with large bellows. 

The rocks of this coast are composed of serpentine,, 
brown, purple, green, and red, and are shattered and hollowed 
by the Atlantic storms. The beautiful little bay called 
Kynans Cove is studded with recks, and here is the funnel- 
shaped stone called "The Bellows". The steatite, or soap- 
stone, found in veins in the serpentine, is used in the manu- 
facture of china. 

Behind the Point is the bleak district called Pradannack 
Downs. 

Of the coast are dangerous low rocks called " The Stags."* 

The vicar of Landewednack is said to have been the last 
parson in Cornwall who preached his sermons in the Cornish 
language, 

In the church is a very old Norman font. 

The beautiful heath, erica vagans, the sea-asparagus, 
and other rare plants, grow in the neighbourhood of the 
Lizard. 



OP CORNWALL. 20* 

IX.-HUNDRED OF PENWITH. 



The Hundred of Penwith occupies the western extremity 
of the county, including the peninsula of Penwith : it con- 
tains twenty-four parishes on the mainland, and one parish 
in the isles of Scilly. 



EAST DIVISION. 



Redruth. 
Illogan. 
Camborne, 
C rowan. 



Towednack. 
Zennor. 
Ludgvan. 
Morvah. 



This" Hundred is washed on three sides by the sea, which 
returns vast treasures of fish : it contains the most extensive* 
and valuable mines in the county. In many parts wi]d, 
barren, and without a tree ; in other parts it is sheltered, 
well -cultivated, and rich in soiL 



G win ear. 


St. Hilarj% 


Gwithian. 


Perranuthnoe 


Phillack. 


Lelant. 


St. Earth. 


St. Ives. 


V r EST DIVISION. 




Madron. 


St. Just. 


Gulval. 


Burkn. 


Paul. 


St. Levan. 


Sancreed. 


Sennen. 


St. Mary's, Scilly. 





Redruth. — Redruth is a large market-town, in a parish 
of the same name : it lies in the midst of a large and rich 
mining district, and is bounded by St. Agnes, Illogan, "Wen- 
dron, and Gwennap. 

It was a place of importance in the fourteenth and 
fifteenth centuries, but in the end of Elizabeth's reign the 
town seems to have almost disappeared, and is not even men- 
tioned by Carew, the historian of that day. 

The church, lying at the foot of Cam Brea, is dedicated 
to St. Uny ; there is a chapel of ease in the town, and a new 



204 parochial geography 

district, called Treleigh, has been formed out of the northern 
part of the parish. 

Northward from the town is the village of Plengwarry, 
so named from a Plaen-en-guare, which was close to it. 

Illogan. — Illogan is a rich mining district, extending 
to the coast. The two parishes of "Wendron and Illogan 
stretch from sea to sea. 

In the northern part of the parish is Tehidy Park, the 
seat of the ancient and honourable families of Basset and 
De Dimstanville. 

Portreath is a small port on the North Sea, for the ship- 
ment of copper ore to Swansea ; it is also called Basset's 
Cove. Here is a chapel of ease. 

Trevenson chapel, lying in the centre of the parish, 
was built by Lord De Dimstanville. The new chapelry of 
Mount Hawke is formed out of Illogan and St Agnes ; that 
of All Saints, Tuckingmill, out of Illogan and Camborne. 

The celebrated hill called Cam Brea is in this parish. 
It is composed of a huge pile of rocks, crowned with the 
remains of a castle. It is a natural elevation, and has been 
supposed to be the grand centre of Druidical worship. It 
was probably also an ancient military station, and there 
are remains of entrenchments on its summit. Many old 
coins, both Roman and British, have been found on its 
sides : gold coins, worn smooth, without any inscription, but 
bearing the figure of a horse, a medal of Antoninus in lead, 
and hollow brass celts, or spear and arrow heads. 

On the western side of Cam Brea stands a column, 
erected in 1836 by the county of Cornwall, to the memory 
cf Francis, Lord De Dunstanville, which is visible from 
almost every part of the county. 

In this parish is the hill Carnkye, abounding in tin. 

Camborne. — Camborne was anciently called Mariadoci : 
it is bounded by the sea, Illogan, Crowan, Gwinear, and 
Gwithian. 



OP CORNWALL. £05 

Pendarves is the seat of the family of that name. 

Tuckingmill district is partly in this parish and Illogan : 
the districts of Penponds and Treslothan are in Camborne 
only. 

Mines have been worked in this parish to a great extent 
for many years. 

A square stone, inscribed " Leniut jusit hec altare pro 
anima sua", is placed against the wall of Camborne church. 

The cromlech called Caerwynen is in this parish. 

Crowan. — Crowan is a large mining parish: it lies 
between \Vendron and Gwinear. 

Clowance is the seat of the old family of St. Aubyn ; 
and Binnerton is an ancient seat of the same family, with 
a ruined chapel. One of this family was the member for 
Cornwall who so steadfastly opposed the measures of Sir 
Robert Walpole, in the reign of George II. 

Gwinear. — Gwinear is bounded by Camborne, Crowan, 
St. Earth, Phillack, and Gwithian ; it abounds in mines. 

Lanyon is the property of an old family of that name, 
William Lanyon, a captain in the navy, was with Captain 
Cook at the time of his death. 

Gwithian. — The coast of this parish is half-buried in 
sand. About a hundred years ago a sudden sandstorm over- 
whelmed the barton of Upton, and the family in the farm- 
house only escaped suffocation by making their way through" 
the chamber windows. In 1808 the sands shifted and dis- 
closed the buried house still standing. Two fields, that a few 
years ago were open, are now buried in sand twelve feet deep ;' 
and the churchtown would have been overwhelmed, but that 
the people checked the further ravages of the sand by plant- 
ing rushes. 

Conarton is a very ancient manor, held in the time of 
Edward the Confessor by Brictric, a Saxon. The Cono^ueros 



20(5 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPflt 

gave it to Alan, Earl of Bretagne : afterwards it was held by 
Queen Maud, then by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, whose son 
Robert gave it to Richard Pincerna. The ancestor of this 
last family was William de Albany, who, coming over into 
England with the Conqueror, was rewarded by him with the 
grant of many lands, to hold by the service of being chief 
butler to the king on his day of coronation : hence was given 
the name of Pincerna, and their arms, which were three cov- 
ered goblets. The manor of Conarton was endowed with 
extraordinary privileges over the whole hundred of Penwith : 
its lords had the appointment of a judge and jailor: the 
patronage of churches, and the royalties of manors, rivers, 
and mines, wrecks and waifs. The manor of Conarton and 
the lordship of Penwith descended to the Arundels, who in 
several successive reigns were obliged to defend their rights 
in a court of law. 

The church of Gwithian is held with Ph'llack. 

Off the coast, near Navax Point, is Godrevy Island. 



PaiLLACK. — This parish is separated by the river Hayle 
from Lelant. 

Hayle is a town situated in this parish and St. Earth, 
The entrance of the river is impeded by a bar of sand, but 
much trade is carried on from this place ; it is the best port 
on this coast, and from hence is exported the copper ore for 
the smelting houses in "Wales. There is a large iron foundry, 
and copper works, and ship-building yards. 

The West Cornwall Railway extends from Truro ta 
Penzance, passing through the towns of Redruth, Camborne, 
and Hayle. 

Castle Caye is a moated farm-house, and the site of as 
fortified building ; Rivier was an ancient castle, now buried 
in the sands. 

A causeway over the creek, leads from Hayle to Phillac& 
church ; the church is surrounded with sand. 



OF CORNWALL. 207 

St. Earth. — The town of Hayle is chiefly in this parish. 

The Hayle River, a branch of the sea flowing in from 
St. Ives Bay, extends into the north-west of the parish. 
It is almost a mile broad, filled with sand, which is dry at 
low water. 

Large ships at one time went up to St. Earth Bridge, 
two miles up the valley. 

St. Earth lies between Ludgvan and Crowan. 

Trewinnard is an ancient seat of the Lords Mohun and 
Arundel. 

St. Hilary .—The parish of St. Hilary lies on the east 
side of Mount's Bay : it contains many mines, some of very 
old working. Cuddan Point is its southern extremity. 

Marazion, formerly called Tremavortol, is probably the 
oldest town in the county: it is also called Market- Jew, 
because, perhaps, a party of Spanish Jews settled here, and 
carried on a traffic in tin. It was anciently a borough-town, 
but having been partially destroyed in a tumult in the reign 
of Edward VI, seems then to have lost its privileges. The 
townsmen made an ineffectual attempt to recover them during 
Cromwell's usurpation. It forms a distinct chapelry, incor- 
porated in 1595. 

Opposite Marazion is Michael's Mount, which hereto- 
fore was included in the parish of St. Hilary : it gives its 
name to Mount's Bay. 

St. Michael's Mount is a mass of granite, rising in a 
cone out of the sea, one hundred and ninety feet high, and 
about a mile in circumference : its side towards the land is a 
gradual slope ; seawards it is almost perpendicular. It lies 
about a quarter of a mile from the shore, but is connected with 
the main land by a broad bar of pebbles and sand, which is 
left dry at ebb tide. On this bar a stone cross once stood, 
since thrown down in a storm. The Mount was called by 
Ptolemy, Ocrinum ; its British name was " Carn-couz-in- 
clouze," or " Carreg-lug-en-kiig," meaning the " Hoar Rock 



208 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

in the Wood:" it is recorded to have stood at one time six 
miles from the sea, in the midst of a forest, and surrounded 
by a country called Lyonesse, which with its towns, churches 
and lands, was swallowed up by an inundation of the Atlantic. 
Its Saxon name was Michael's Tor, from a legend that the 
Archangel appeared on its summit. 

Edward the Confessor built a church and monastery 
on the Mount : William the Conqueror gave it to Robert, 
Earl of Montaigne, and endowed it with lands in St. Hilary. 
Richard, King of the Romans, and Edmund, Earl of Corn- 
wall, enlarged its revenues, and several of the Popes con- 
firmed its temporal and spiritual privileges. In the reign of 
Richard I, Henry de la Pomeroy, lord of Tregoney Castle, 
caballing with John, Earl of Cornwall, to make him King, 
while his brother Richard was in Palestine, got possession of 
the Mount by stratagem, bringing soldiers to the gates, dressed 
as pilgrims, who, having entered the monastery, drew forth 
weapons of war from beneath their clothes, and expelled the 
monks. On his death, the monks were restored, but the 
Mount henceforth became a military post, " a fortalice to all 
the country round." It was taken again by the same device, 
by John, Earl of Oxford, for Henry VI, and Sir John Arundel 
of Trerice, assaying to recover it, was slain on the sands 
below. It was besieged by the rebels in Flammock's com- 
motion, who, first winning the foot of the hill, carried up 
trusses of hay to deaden the shot, and took the castle by 
storm, and found rich plunder among the many great Cornish 
folks that had fled thither for security. Lady Catherine 
Gordon, the wife of Perkyn Warbeck, took refuge here, but 
was soon compelled to deliver herself up to Lord Daubeney ; 
and it was taken and plundered by Arundel's religious rebels 
in the reign of Edward VI. Queen Elizabeth granted the 
Mount to Thomas Bellot: by him it was conveyed to Cecil, 
Earl of Salisbury : he forfeited his rights by joining in the 
rebellion, and King Charles gave it to the brave and true- 
hearted Bassets, of Tehidy. Sir Francis Basset much 



OF CORNWALL. 2C9 

strengthened its fortifications, and long held it for the King: 
and under his charge the Duke of Hamilton was kept a 
prisoner here : but in April, 1646, he was compelled to deliver 
it up to Colonel Hammond, and the garrison retired to Scilly. 

The chapel on the Mount is in full preservation, and used 
for service : it has a peal of six bells. On the tower of the 
chapel stands a turret, once used as a lighthouse for sailors : in 
one of the angles of this turret, overhanging the sea, is the 
magic seat called St. Michael's chair. Many of the rooms 
of the old monastery are in gocd repair, and occupied as a 
dwelling-house. King Charles II slept here on his way to 
Scilly. A ball of fire struck the chapel in July, 1676, and 
glancing from the wall, passed into the hall, and broke in pieces 
by the side of Mr. St. Aubyn, doing no further mischief, and 
leaving only a sulphureous smell and a small mass of cinders. 
St. Michael's Mount is now the property of the family of St. 
Aubyn, who make it their occasional residence. It extends 
over about seven acres of scanty pasture, with little wood, 
but with gocd water: it contains also ores of tin. Human 
bones have been dug up all ovpr its surface : and spear-heads, 
axes, and swords. Rabbits breed abundantly on it ; and the 
chough builds in the crags. Queen Victoria landed here on 
the 6th of September, 1846. At the base of the Mount is 
the little town of St. Michael. Between Marazion and the 
Mount is a crag called the chapel rock, on which once stood 
an oratory. 

At the King of Prussia's Cove in the bay, the smugglers 
erected a battery for the. defence of their ships. In December, 
1779, a large cutter, commanded by Luke Ryan, a notorious 
Irish pirate, chased some coasting vessels into the bay, but 
the guns of the Mount opening a fire upon her, obliged her 
to sheer off. 

Perranuthnoe. — This parish abounds with old tin and 
copper mines ; it is situated on the east side of Mount's Bay,* 
Goldsithney is a large village in this parish. 



210 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

The parish of Perranuthnoe is entirely enclosed by St. 
Hilary. It is said that the whole of the two parishes were 
once in the possession of one lord, and he gave his younger 
son such a part of his lands as he could walk round in a given 
time : he walked round that portion now called the parish of 
Perranuthnoe ; and hence it became severed from St. 
Hilary. 

On a common in this parish is a trench about three feet 
deep, in which are shallow pits, called the Giant's Steps. 

The sea made in early times great encroachment on the 
lands of this parish. The parish terrier makes mention of 
fields on the coast belonging to the rector, which have dis- 
appeared. 

Lelant. — Lelant is bounded by the Hayle, St. Earth, 
St. Ives, Towednack, and Ludgvan. 

It is also called Uny Lelant. It forms with St. Earth 
and Phillack the port of Hayle. 

With St. Ives and Towednack it forms the borough of 
St. Ives. 

It is the mother-church of Towednack, and is held with 
it : formerly St. Ives also was incorporated with Lelant. 

Lelant was once a large village and port, but has been 
reduced by the drifting of the sands into the haven. The 
sands have buried one church : the present church stands 
near the shore, and the burial-ground is much covered with 
sand : the planting of a kind of rush which grows readily in 
this sandy soil has served as a valuable barrier. 

Trevethow is the seat of the Praed family. 

On the hill behind Trevethow is a monument built in 
1811 by John Knill, collector of customs at St. Ives. He 
bequeathed certain lands to keep up the celebration of games 
of racing, rowing, and wrestling, which he directed by his 
will to be held every fifth year, and that a troop of maidens, 
dressed in white, should make a procession to the monument 
and dance and sing around it. This parish furnishes a coarse 



OF CORNWALL. 211 

clay, valuable in the making of brick furnaces and ovens. 

St. Ives. — St. Ives is an ancient market and borough 
town, and the largest port on the north coast, lying on a 
spacious and beautiful bay, but much exposed, and encum- 
bered with sands. It is the chief seat of the herring and 
pilchard fishery. 

The church of St. Ives was built in the reign of Henry 
V, by the people of the town, as a thankonering to Almighty 
God, because " it had pleased Him to increase the townr 
inhabitants, and to send down temporal blessings most 
plentifully among them." It is built of granite, brought by 
water from Zennor, and now stands close to the sea, which 
has swept away certain fields between Court Cockyn Rock 
and the church. The church-yard wall is SO feet high, and 
7 feet thick, yet the waves have broken over this barrier, and 
destroyed the chancel- roof. The sea in past ages has made 
great ravages on this coast, and whole streets have been 
buried under the sands. 

In the reign of Henry VI, four French ships entered 
the bay, and burnt Porthminster, a small village a mile from 
St. Ives, which has never since been rebuilt. Lord Brooke, 
in the reign of Henry VII, established a market and fairs 
in St. Ives, built a fort on Pednamore Point, and furnished 
it with guns. In August, 1497, Perkyn Warbeck and his 
wife, with 150 men, came on shore at St. Ives. In 1635 
a Turkish pirate ship was brought into the harbour: she 
had captured three small vessels of Looe and Fowey, and 
seized their crews for slaves : but the captives rising in a 
body, knocked the captain overboard, drove the Turks below, 
and sailed for St. Ives, and having a fair wind, reached it in 
safety, though the Turkish pirates continually fired at them 
through the timbers of the decks. In February, 1641, there 
arrived a ship at St. Ives, in great distress, laden with powder 
for the King's troops in Ireland, which, being repaired, sailed 
for Dublin. In 1644, the men of St. Ives, Towednack, and 



212 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

Zennor, in rebellious mood, assembled on Longstone Down, 
but were scattered at the approach of Sir Richard Grenville 
with a body of Royalists: Sir Richard sent the mayor of 
St. Ives to jail, and hanged up a constable for example's 
sake ; but the same year they forced Colonel Goring to fall 
back from the town, by blocking up the roads with pilchard 
hogsheads, filled with sand. In 1647 a pestilence visited the 
town; five hundred people died, and the rest would have 
perished through famine, save that a vessel laden with corn 
and wine came to their relief. On January 30, 1648, the day 
that the King died, a vessel in the bay, having on board the 
furniture of the royal family, in a terrible gale was driven 
ashore on Godrevy Island, and out of a crew of sixty, only 
a man and a boy and a dog escaped, who lived two days 
amongst the rocks, subsisting on oreweed and rain water. 
In 1653, Oliver Cromwell was proclaimed at St. Ives; and 
to every soldier was given a yard of blue and white ribbon, 
and a good pot of beer to drink the old rebel's health. 

During the American war, a vessel containing German 
troops ran foul of another vessel on the c:a>t of North 
America, and was so disabled that she drifted unmanageably 
before the wind all across the Atlantic, and arrived safely, 
with her starving cargo, in St. Ives Bay. 

On Pendennis Point is a. battery, and the weather-worn 
chapel of St. Nicholas. Tn the chapel of St. Leonards, near 
the quay, the parson used to say prayers with the fishermen 
before they went to sea. 

The pier was built by Smeaton, the architect of the 
Eddystone Lighthouse. 

St. Ives sent two members to Parliament from the time 
of Mary: in conjunction with Lelant and Towednack it now 
returns but one. Sir Francis Basset represented it in 1640, 
and presented to the corporation a large silver goblet. 

The church of St. Ives was united to Lelant : it now 
forms a separate cure. The new chapelry of Halse Town is 
formed out of this parish. 



OF CORNWALL. 213 

Tin and copper mines on a small scale have been worked 
in the neighbourhood : smelting-works were formerly estab- 
lished in the town. 

Jonathan Toup, the learned Ptector of St. Martins by 
Looe, was a native of St. Ives. 



WEST DIVISION. 

Towednack.— Towednack lies on the west of St. Ives: 
its church is incorporated with Lelant. 

It is a bleak and barren district: the northern side is a 
ridge of rugged mountains, covered with vast masses of 
granite. 

Thirty small silver coins were found under a stone in 
this parish, some of Valentinian. 

Towednack is included in the borough of St. Ives. 

There is an old entrenchment in this parish called Tre- 
cragan. 

Zennor. — Zennor is west of Towednack, and has the 
Atlantic on the north and Madron on the south, from which 
it is separated by a ridge of rocks. It abounds in old, deserted 
mine-works, but the land is remarkably fertile. 

The bold headland on the west is called Treryn Dinas, 
or Garnard's Head. The Carrachs are small islands on the 
coast. 

There is a large cromlech in this parish. 

Ludgvan. — Ludgvan lies on the north side of Mount's 
Bay, between Gulval and St. Hilary : it is a mining parish. 

At Bodinas are two circles of stone called the Crellas. 

Castle-an-Dinas is an old circular camp-work, consist- 
ing of two stone walls. 

Dr. Borlase died and was buried here, aged 77. He waa 
incumbent of Ludgvan fifty two years. 

Barfield was the seat of Sir Humphrey Davy. 



214' PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

Morvah. — Morvah is bounded by Madron, Zennor, and 
St. Just. 

It is a daughter church to Madron. 

At Pendeen Van is an old military work called Chun 
Castle, carefully constructed of stone: southward of it is 
the Chun Cromlech, with a stone barrow round it. 

In this parish is a hill of granite called Cam Calva, with 
its vast blocks yet untouched by man. 



Madron.— Madron, or Madern, is a large parish be- 
tween Sancreed and Guival, washed on the south by Mount's 
Bay. 

The town of Penzance is in the parish of Madron, on 
Mount's Bay: from the beauty of its situation and the 
character of its buildings, it is the queen of Cornwall : it is 
sheltered from westerly winds, and is a great resort for persons 
requiring a mild climate. Its fruits and flowers are many 
and early : tender plants grow freely in the open air. 

Penzance means the " Saint's Head," and the town takes 
the head of St. John the Baptist in a charger for its arms. 

The chapelry of Penzance, anciently called Burriton, 
and dependent upon Madron, is now a perpetual curacy. The 
town contains also the proprietary chapel of St. Paul. The 
new chapelry of St. Peter, Newlyn, is formed out of Madron 
parish and Paul. 

Penzance was incorporated by James I. The corporate 
funds are large and wisely administered. Its trade is great : 
it exports tin, copper, and fish : it was one of the four coin- 
age towns. An outlying part of the town called Chyandower 
is in the parish of Guival. 

Sir Humphrey Davy was a native of Penzance, born in 
1719: he was a celebrated chemist, and invented that great 
blessing for workmen in coal mines, the " Davy Lamp." The 
family of Kedgwin is of ancient note in this town : honour- 
able mention is thus made of one of them by William 



OF CORNWALL. 215 

Batten, the Parliamentary admiral, on board bis ship Andrew, 
battering Pendennis Castle: — "A dogger-boat, with four 
guns, I have taken, whereof one Kedgwin of Penzant, was 
captain, a notable, active knave against the Parliament, and 
had the King's commission, but now would fain be a mer- 
chantman, and was ballasted with salt, and had divers letters 
in her for Pendennis Castle." 

Northwards from Madron church, on a moor, is Madron 
Well, with the ruins of a chapel about it. Bishop Hall 
describes a cure wrought by its waters. 

In this parish is the pillar called Men Scryfa, or the 
"Inscribed Stone," bearing the words, RIALOBRAN. 
CUNOVAL. FIL. And here also are two large cromlechs : 
the Molfra Quoit, and the Lanyon, or Giant's Quoit : the upper 
stone of the latter is nineteen feet long, and raised so high 
that a horseman may ride under it : it slipped off its imposts 
during a violent storm, some years' ago, but was replaced by 
the powerful machinery which restored the Logan Stone to 
its position. 

A detached part of Madron lies in Gulval. 
On the coast of this parish, 720 feet from shore, the 
Wherry mine was worked, having its mouth in the sea : some 
tin ores and cobalt were raised, but the adventurous scheme 
was abandoned, as too costly in operation. 

The "Western Green," between Penzance and Newlyn, 
which was once a large cricket-field, has been swallowed up 
by the sea : and the vicars of Madron used to receive tithes 
from land under the cliff at Penzance, now covered with 
water. 

On Sunday night, January 19, 1817, a furious storm 
broke over Penzance, shattered the pier, threw down the 
pillars of a lighthouse unfinished, and dashed the vessels in 
pieces ; and so great were the ravages of the sea, that had the 
storm continued a few hours longer, it would probably have 
flowed over the low lands, and formed the southern part of 
Penwith into an island. 



216 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

The people of many of the parishes around Penzance, 
both men and women, have large black eyes, dark hair, and 
swart complexions : they are probably of Eastern birth, de- 
scended from that colony of Phoenicians from Cadiz who 
settled in these parts, and left their memorial in Chaldee 
names, as Zephon, Marazion, Zennor, Mewichian.Phillack, &c. 

Gulval. — Gulval was anciently called Lanestly. 

Between the churches of Gulval and Madron a stone 
serves as a foot bridge, called the Blue Bridge, bearing this 
inscription, " Cnegumi Fil Enans." Enans was the first 
king of Armorica. 

In draining land between Marazion and Penzance men 
dug up an earthen pot, containing a thousand Roman coins, 
of the emperors between A.D. 260 and 350. 

In this parish is Gulfwell, or the Hebrew Brook, over 
which an old witch used to preside, and divine things past, 
present, and future, by incantation of its waters. 

Boskednan Circle is the name given to nineteen upright 
stones in this parish. 

Paul. — This parish forms the western side of Mount's 
Bay. 

Mousehole is a fishing town in the parish of Paul, an- 
ciently called Port Enys, and once carrying on a great trade. 
It was destroyed by the Spaniards in the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth, together with Newlyn, and a part of Penzance : 
a cannon-shot, fired from their ships, is still preserved, by 
which it is said, Jenkin Kedgwin, of Mousehole, was killed. 
At the southern angle of the coast is St. Clement's Isle, 
which serves as a breakwater to Mousehole. 

Newlyn is a village on the coast near Penzance. The 
new chapelry of St. Peter, Newlyn, extends into Madron 
parish. A piece of gold, in the shape of a crescent, sup- 
posed to be a torque, or Roman armlet, was found near this 
place. 



OF CORNWALL. 217 

The church of Paul stands on a ridge of high lands, 
overlooking the bay. It was burnt by the Spaniards, as the 
following inscription in the church records : — " The Spanyer 
burnt this church in the yeare 1595." Sir Francis Godolphin 
could not inspire the men of the parish with courage to resist 
these freebooters, they being panic-struck through faith in 
an old prophesy, which ran thus : — 

" Strangers shall land upon the rock of Merlin, 
Who shall burn Paul, Penzance, and Newlyn." 
There is a rock called Merlin on the same side of Mount's 
Bay. In the church hangs old armour of the Godolphin 
family, and a sword, thus inscribed : — " Nicholas Godolphin, 
Arm. sepultus est. Feb. 16, anno 1633." 

Kerris Round is an oval enclosure of large loose stones : 
many of them were used in rebuilding Penzance pier. 

On an estate, called Trewoof, situated on the side of a 
rocky hill, are the remains of a- triple entrenchment, in 
which runs a subterranean passage : here it is recorded a 
party of Royalists concealed themselves and escaped, when 
pursued by Fairfax. There is a fine chalybeate spring on 
the estate. 

In the parishes of Paul and Burian are tin streams, in 
which wood tin, or woodlike oxide of tin, is found in large 
pieces. 

The great storm of January, 1817, washed away many 
houses in Mousehole and Newlyn. On the cliff between the 
two villages a platform was erected, mounting a battery : 
adjoining it was a furnace for heating the shot. 

Sancreed. — Sancreed, or Sancreet, is the only parish in 
the peninsula of Penwith which is not washed by the sea. 

This parish is barren and stony. Sancreet Well was 
once famous for healing divers diseases : near it are the 
ruins of St. Uny's Chapel. 

St. Just in Penwith.— This parish is washed on the 
north and west by the Atlantic. 

k2 



218 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHT 

The tin and copper mines in this parish have been 
■worked for many ages, and are thought to be the oldest in the 5 
county. Botallack Mine lies on the side of the cliff, and the 
machinery is erected amongst almost perpendicular rocks. 
Near Cape Cornwall a mine is carried, for seventy fathoms, 
under the most tempestuous sea that beats against the British 
shores. The roaring of the waters, and the grinding of the 
boulders, are distinctly heard by the miners working below. 
The ores are carried up the cliffs by mules. Rare minerals 
have been found m these mines. 

Pendeen occupies the northern side of the parish ; it is 
a separate district for cure of souls. Here in 1696 was born 
Dr. Borlase ; he was rector of St. Just, and Ludgvan, and 
wrote on the Natural History and Antiquities of his native 
county. Near Pendeen is an artificial cave. 

The noble promontory, called Cape Cornwall, is in this 
parish ; southward of it extends Whkesand Bay, so named 
from the beautiful white sand on its beach, containing rare 
shells. From this bay Athelstan embarked for his invasion 
of Scilly. Here King Stephen landed; after him, King 
John, on his return from Ireland ; and Perkyn Warbeck, in 
his attempt on the Tudor throne. But scarce one day in 
seven can any one land on this coast in safety, so great is the 
surf, so rocky is the shore. Off Cape Cornwall are the rocks 
called Bresoms. 

St. Just Round is an amphitheatre, rising m stone seats 
or steps, and enclosing an exact circle, 126 feet in diameter. 
There are circles of upright stones at Botallack, and other 
places, and a cromlech near Chun Castle. Chapel- Carn- 
Brea is a rock, crowned with a ruined chapel. Near the cliffs 
is an old earthwork, called Karnidjack Castle. 

Burian. — Burian, or St. Buryan, is a large parish irs 
the south of Penwith, between St. Levan and Paul. 

King Athelstan, in passing through this parish to Scilly, 
made a vow that if he should succeed in the conquest of the 



OF CORNWALL. 219 

islands, he would build a church in Burian. He conquered 
the islands, and fulfilled his vow; built a large church, 
founded a deanery, and three prebends, and endowed the 
same with lands. Henry VI seized the deanery, because it 
was held by an alien, and gave it to King's College, Cam- 
bridge. Edward IV transferred both dignity and lands to 
the dean and chapter of Windsor. The deanery is now held 
under the crown ; and it includes the parishes of Burian, 
Sennen, and St. Levan. The three prebends are vested in 
the dean. 

The church is old and grand. Near the church-yard are 
two granite crosses. East of the church are the ivy-clad 
remains of a building, supposed to be the dean's chapel; 
it was destroyed by Shrubsal, Cromwell's governor of Pen- 
dennis Castle. 

Burnuhall is an old mansion near the cliffs, once the 
residence of the family of Noye, afterwards of Davies. 
They say that the Pretender was sheltered here ; and one of 
the rooms in it is ornamented with shell-work, arranged by 
a daughter of the latter family, and under a figure of the 
Pretender are these words : " This is the heir : come, let us 
kill him, that the inheritance may be ours." 

At Bolleit are nineteen upright stones in a circle, called 
in Cornish, Dans Men, the Stone Dancers, or Merry 
Maidens, changed, say the folks, into stone, for dancing on. 
Sunday. 

William Noye was born in this parish. He became 
member for St. Ives, and for a time sided with the Parliament, 
but coming to a sense of his duty to his King, was appointed 
Attorney General of England, 

St. Levan. — St Levan occupies the most southernly part 
of the peninsula of Penwith, between Sennen and Burian. 

Tolpenpenwith is the southern extremity of the parish, 
a bold headland, crossed with lines of defence, and haunted 
by choughs. Near it is a perpendicular shaft worn through 
k5 



220 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

the granite rocks by the action of the waves. On the coast 
are land-marks, for keeping vessels clear of a sunken and 
dreaded rock, called the Runnel Stone. 

Eastward of Port Carnow Cove is a headland formed of 
vast crags, called Castle Treryn, and encompassed by two 
earthen ramparts and ditches. On one of these rocks is the 
Logan Stone, a mass of granite weighing sixty-five tons, 
which may be easily rocked to and fro. In 1824, the crew of 
a revenue-cutter, by their officer's command, heaved this 
famous stone off its balance ; a complaint was made to the 
Admiralty, and the lieutenant was ordered to replace it ; by 
repeated efforts, with the use of powerful means, he lifted it 
again into its position, and for many years after it was chained 
and padlocked. 

The chapel of St. Levan has been washed away by the 
waves. 

At Porthgwarrah a tunnel has been cut through the rock, 
to give access to the beach for sand for manure. 

Sennen. — Sennen is the most westernly parish in Corn- 
wall. 

The Land's End is the extreme point to the west; the 
headland is low, and here only does granite come in contact 
with the ocean. The Land's End is the ancient Bolerium. 
Two miles off the point is the Longships Light House, built 
on a rock sixty feet high, yet its top is often buried in the 
spray of the mountain surges of the Atlantic, and the glass 
in the lantern broken. 

The Wolf Rock and Seven Stones are dangerous rocks 
io the sea between the mainland and Scilly. Off the Seven 
Stones is a light-ship, moored in 40 fathoms of water; in 
violent storms it has often been driven from its moorings. 

Sennen Cove is the only safe landing-place on this coast. 

Near the Land's End is an inn called " The First and 
Last Inn in England". At the village of Mayne is Table- 
men, a famous flat stone, on which it is said three kings dined, 
cm their journey to the Land's End. 



OP CORNWALL. 221 



THE SCILLY ISLANDS. 



The Scilly Isles lie at a distance of 25 miles from the 
Land's End, in the direction S.W. The whole group consists 
of 145 islets and rocks, but only 24 are cultivated, and of 
these only six are inhabited. Many islands formerly peopled 
are now abandoned. The circuit of all the isles is about 30 
miles : they form one parish, that of St. Mary's, in the arch- 
deaconry of Cornwall, and diocese of Exeter. The people 
are called Scillonians. 

The inhabited isles are St. Mary's, St. Agnes, St. Mar- 
tin's, Tresco, Bryher, and Samson : their population in 1851 
was as under: — 

St. Mary's 1,668 

Tresco .. .... 416 

St. Martin's 211 

Bryher and Samson . . 128 

St. Agnes 204 

■ 2,627 

St. Mary's. — St. Mary's is the largest isle ; it is four 
miles long, and two and a half broad, and contains about 1500 
acres. The chief village is Hugh Town, built on a neck of 
sand between St. Mary's Pool and Portcrasa Bay : it has a 
small pier. The western side of the island is defended by 
Star Castle, an old building with low batteries, garrisoned by 
six invalided artillerymen. The back of the island is covered 
with furze and heath, stocked with deer and rabbits. On 
Buzza Hill is a fine barrow, and beneath it the noble bay, 
three miles wide, which in easternly winds is crowded with 
ships. The church is in Hugh Town : an old church and 
burial ground remain at Old Town, and here are buried Sir 
J. Narborough, Harry Trelawny, son of Bishop Trelawny, 
and others, who were lost with Sir Cloudesley Shovel. In 
the east of the island is the Giant's Castle, an earth-work 
with three circles of entrenchment, and near it a large logan- 



222 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

stone; there are many barrows on the island. At Holy 
Vale are the remains of monastic buildings, and on Sallakee 
Downs are two crosses built into a wall. 

Tresco. — Tresco, anciently Tniscaw and St. Nicholas 
Island, is separated from Bryher by Grimsey channel. Le~ 
land speaks ot it as the largest of the group, being in his 
time nine miles round, and infested with wild boars ; it is now 
the second in size, about six miles in circumference. At 
low water there is a passage from Tresco to St. Martin's, 
and hence to St. Mary's. Ruins of houses, walls, and 
paved ways, are seen under the water in Crow Sound. 
The modern mansion of Tresco Abbey is the residence 
of Augustus Smith, Esq., lord of the Scilly Isles : it is 
beautifully situated on a lake of fresh water, 50 acres in 
extent, separated from the sea by a bar of white sand: 
the gardens are highly cultivated, with hedges formed 
of geraniums, 14 feet high : the woods abound with 
pheasants. Of the old monastery there remain only a wall 
and pointed arch : a few graves lie around. Godolphin Town 
is the chief village, and here are the church and schools. 
Cromwell's Castle commands New Grimsey Channel : it is 
still kept in repair: above it are ruins called Charles's Walls. 
Piper's Hole is along deep cavern. The principal garrison 
of the Royalists was in Tresco : they entrenched and fortified 
the old abbey of St. Nicholas, and erected batteries along 
the coast. A fine view of the whole of Scilly is given from 
a hill in this island. 

St. Martin's.— St. Martin's lies N. E. of St. Mary's, 
and forms a ridge about two miles and a half long : it con- 
tains two hamlets. There is a church in this isle, but no 
resident clergyman. The Land's End is distinctly seen 
from the high lands on the east. 

Bryher.— This island lies on the west of Tresco ; of 
the six inhabited isles it is the most wild and rocky. The 



OP CORNWALL. 223 

church was built by the Godolphins: it is served from 
Tresco. 

Samson's Isle has no church : it is ecclesiastically- 
attached to Bryher : lying exposed to westernly winds, it is 
much overblown by sand. 

St. Agnes is the largest isle in the southernly group ; it 
was formerly called St. Warna ; on its western extremity 
stands a lighthouse, with a revolving beacon. The church 
was built in 1685, by the people of the island, with money 
allotted to them for salvage. 

St. Helen's is sometimes called the Quarantine Island, 
because a hospital for diseased sailors was built on it : it is a 
waste. St. Helen's Pool is a basin in which vessels ride in 
safety in all weathers. 

Other islets are Tean, on which there is a breed of white 
rabbits with long silky fur : Corre'gan, Rosevears, and the 
Eastern Isles ; of this last group many are large ; Ganilly 
contains 16 acres : on the Great and Middle Arthurs are 
many barrows, and here lop-eared rabbits run wild. Little 
Agnes, or Agnette, has an extent of about 50 acres: on the 
Gilstone, near this island, the Association or Victory, the 
flag-ship of Sir C. Shovel, with the Eagle and Romney, 
ships of the line, was lost with 2000 men, The body of Sir 
C. Shovel was buried in the sands, but was afterwards removed 
to Westminster Abbey. Off the island of Crebawethan, the 
most westernly of the large isles, is the Bishop's Rock light- 
house. 

The isles of Scilly, or others now under water, on the 
west coasts of Cornwall, were called by the Greeks Hespe- 
rides : Herodotus calls them Cassiterides, and says that he 
understands they lie at the extremity of Europe, and that from 
them the merchants fetch tin, but acknowledges that he 
knows nothing of their exact situation. It seems unlikely 
that the Phoenicians ever occupied Scilly, as no trace of 



t 



V 



22i PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY 

their works has been found: every ancient monument is 
either British or Danish. The Romans called the islands 
Sillince or Silures, and used them as a place of exile : Instan- 
tius, a heterodox Bishop of Spain, was confined here by tha 
Emperor Maximus. They were often ravaged by the sea- 
kings, but Olave, King of Sweden, touching at Scilly in one 
of his marauding expeditions, is said to have been converted 
to Christianity, by a priest whom he met there. 

Athelstan, in the tenth century, invaded and subdued 
Scilly, and established many religious houses, all subject to 
the priory of St. Nicholas at Tresco. Henry I granted to 
the abbey of Tavistock "all the churches of Sullye " ; the 
civil tenure of the isles he bestowed on Reginald de Dun- 
stanville, Earl of Cornwall. 

After the Conquest, Scilly was in the hands of the noble 
Norman family of Barentin, who also held the Channel 
Islands. Ralph de Blanchminster held the castle of Ennor 
in Scilly by the service of finding twelve armed men to keep 
the peace in those settlements, but complaint is made that 
he not only failed in this service, but committed the King's 
Coroner, who came to Scilly to hold an assize, to the prison 
of La Val. In 1824, John de Allet was Lord of Scilly, and 
a law of his time runs thus: — When any man is attainted of 
felony, let him be taken to a certain rock in the sea ; and 
with two barley loaves and one pitcher of water upon the same 
rock, let him be left until the flowing of the tide swallows 
him up. 

In so low condition were the islands in the time of 
Henry VI, that they were valued only at the rent of 50 puf- 
fins, or 6s. 8d. : in time of Richard III., they were estimated, 
in time of peace, at 40 shillings ; in war, at nothing. In the 
reign of Edward VI, they were held by Lord Admiral Sey- 
mour, who was beheaded in 1549, when the civil possession 
of the islands became confiscated to the crown, the ecclesias- 
tical rights having been already seized as part of the property 
of the abbey of Tavistock. 



OF CORNWALL. 225 

Queen Elizabeth transferred them to Sir Francis Go- 
dolphin, on military tenure, at a yearly rent of j£10 ; and 
they remained in the hands of the representatives of that 
noble family until about the year 1800, when they were 
claimed as part of the Duchy, and the Duke of Leeds de- 
clining to renew, King William IV, as Duke of Cornwall, 
in 1834, granted the isles to Augustus Smith, Esq., on a lease 
of 99 years. But when, or by what means, the jurisdiction 
over these islands became vested in the Duchy is unknown : 
in the ancient grant of the Dukedom to the King's eldest 
son, no mention whatever is made of the isles of Scilly. 

Bastwick was here in 1640, imprisoned in Star Castle. 
In 1645, Prince Charles spent six weeks in Scilly; where 
Lord Hopton, Sir Edward Hyde, and other royalists found a 
temporary shelter. Lady Fanshawe, in her memoirs, gives 
an account of her miserable sojourn here: — "Having been 
pillaged, and being extremely sick,' I was set on shore almost 
dead. When we got to our quarters, it was a little house 
with two low rooms, and two little lofts with a ladder to go 
up. I lay down to sleep in a vile bed, which by daylight 
was near swimming with the sea. With this we were destitute 
of fuel, clothes, and meat, and truly we thought every meal 
our last." 

Scilly was the last fort in all the British dominions held 
for King Charles : it was strongly garrisoned, one of the 
Godolphins being governor under Sir John Grenville. Van 
Tromp, the Dutch Admiral, appeared before Scilly with a 
powerful fleet, and tempted Sir J. Grenville with the offer of 
a large bribe to cede the islands to him ; but the noble cava- 
lier stood there to contend against treason, not to imitate it, 
and he refused to yield up an inch of British soil to a stran- 
ger. After a gallant struggle against Blake and Ayscough, 
ihe isles were surrendered to the Parliament in May, 1651. 

During the last century the islands were in a very de- 
pressed condition ; St. Agnes was deserted, and the whole 
population was in great misery and want. Under the judici- 



u. tfO. 

ion- 

226 PAROCHIAL GEOGRAPHY OF CORNWALL. ) 

ous rule of the present lessee, they have passed into a state 
of great comfort and prosperity. 

The land of Scilly is highly cultivated : potatoes are 
raised in great quantities, and come very early into the Lon- 
don markets : there is also abundance of fruit. 

Sharks are often seen in the open waters ; puffins and 
cormorants breed on the rocks ; woodcocks are found in 
great abundance ; there are no hares, snakes, vipers, or toads 
in Scilly. Tin, lead, and copper lodes have been discovered, 
but no mines have been worked to any extent. 

The sea round Scilly is studded with dangerous rocks, 
and thousands of fearful wrecks have happened in those 
waters. The easternly winds sweep over the isles with great 
violence, yet their range is so limited, that during their pre- 
valence vessels from the Atlantic have a strong westernly 
breeze till they come quite close to land. These opposing 
currents of wind probably cause the singular set of the sea 
round the isles : it runs in a complete circle, so that wrecks 
are carried round the land day after day. 

Queen Victoria visited the islands in 1847. In 1831 
and 1838 the Bishop of Exeter held a visitation and confir- 
mation here. 



4 



XETHERTON, PRINTER, TRURO. 



